Root What does root even mean to some?

[fungalMonk]

Given all the hubbub, I've been as torn as anyone when it comes to what to do. But what are people actually looking for when it comes to root? Do you want to install new and exciting things not specifically intended for our phones? Do you want prestige with your buddies for having a rooted phone? Do you just want to remove things you deem unnecessary? Are you just an old-school hacker wanting to find ways to make things work that "officially" shouldn't?

Root for me is simply being the one in charge of something that I *should* be able to control, if I'm capable. I've been running open source *nix systems at home for quite some time now, and frankly, I'm still intimidated by the idea of having root on my phone. I've never had to deal with a radio transmitter as root before. I've never been faced with bricking a device for my use of open source software as root. But the allure is part of why I'm here, as I'd like to learn and I'd like to eventually, perhaps, contribute. I really don't grok the mentality of some subsection of those who seem to want to root first and ask questions later. If you've ever had root on an important system (and I have -- but I wouldn't have had root there without my own prior experience), you should know what you're getting into when you're fooling with these things.

Is it really just the enticement of something new or what?

 

[Ruh17]

Root= Freedom!
Don't let the man keep u down.

 

[alprazolam]

It means absolutely nothing to me at this point because I have the leaked 2.1 and I can't root my phone.

 

[acidbath5546]

It means absolutely nothing to me at this point because I have the leaked 2.1 and I can't root my phone.

lol...Poor guy

 

[smacky]

It basically takes away restrictions on the phone. If we knew what we wanted from root, it would have been on the phone when it came from HTC. Root, with the customizable ROMs and whatnot help you tinker around with settings.

Right now? I don't have it rooted but why would I? There seems to be only one ROM out there, whereas the Nexus One and Droid have tons of them. Because the Eris has such a small following, there will be slim pickings.

As far as what I would do despite all that, I would simply mess with the settings on the hardware of the phone like processor power. Maybe remove some apps, so a little software, but I dunno if you need a custom ROM to do all that. I don't plan on getting themes, icons, wallpapers, etc. Nothing for aesthetics.

 

[trav473]

lol...Poor guy

did you get another eris, acid? thought you were running leak 2.1..

 

[trav473]

It basically takes away restrictions on the phone. If we knew what we wanted from root, it would have been on the phone when it came from HTC. Root, with the customizable ROMs and whatnot help you tinker around with settings.

Right now? I don't have it rooted but why would I? There seems to be only one ROM out there, whereas the Nexus One and Droid have tons of them. Because the Eris has such a small following, there will be slim pickings.

As far as what I would do despite all that, I would simply mess with the settings on the hardware of the phone like processor power. Maybe remove some apps, so a little software, but I dunno if you need a custom ROM to do all that. I don't plan on getting themes, icons, wallpapers, etc. Nothing for aesthetics.

one thing to remember, the droid was rooted not long after it was released, and the N1 was rooted before it was released, so the chefs have had at least 2+ months to cook up some good roms. For our littel eris to be rooted for what 4 days now, and already at least 3 generations of that one available rom. seems to me like there are going to be several different flavors of roms available to those of us that don't really know how to cook. just to give you an example, I have an "old" XV6900 (less than a year old and already discontinued) and have found a large choice of roms to install.

 

[theEastonator]

I want people to write optimized custom ROMs for the Eris like they have for the Droid - things that will change up the look and improve performance.

 

[jamezelle]

If we knew what we wanted from root, it would have been on the phone when it came from HTC.

I'm sorry but that doesn't really make any sense to me.

I know what I want from root and I know HTC will never be able to accomidate that without their business interests in mind. Being able to make my phone mine for real! Theming, overclocking, custom roms and much more. As well as the great group of developers we have.

HTC would not ever be able to have what i want included stock. Because what I want is maximum customizability, that for one is why we have the market.

 

[uminchu]

Root= Freedom!
Don't let the man keep u down.

+1

Root = Freedom from many carrier imposed limitations
Root = Freedom from carrier imposed bloatware
Root = Freedom from wireless access fees
Root = Freedom from lag via optimized custom ROMs and/or kernels
Root = Access to a wealth of root only interface tweaks and customization
Root = Access to a wealth of highly useful, root only apps
Root = Your phone, your way

Congrats Eris owners!

 

[DigitalMD]

Really? Well I hope your right but I doubt we will see nirvana.
I'm looking forward to stable rooted ROMs but I don't expect a huge benefit, just minor tweaks and stability eventually.
The Hero has been rooted for many months and I follow their progress since my wife owns one. I have the ERIS. I've seen minor goodness, but nothing major. Sure you can remove a few apps you don't need, but Verizon Bloatware? Really? I count only two apps in the bloat category. There are things I personally don't use like facebook and tweet, but I'm sure some people need those. I really don't think that HTC put a smoking hot processor in the Eris and then hey let's stick it to the customer by running it dog slow... . You might get a minor little tweak in speed at the expense of stability and battery life, but so what? Another thing, you are not going to get a highly custom kernel since that's the hardware Eris specific stuff. And its not your OS the way you like , it's Google's the way they like it with your stuff piled on top. Hardware takes a leap ahead about every 3 months, software lags about a year behind. The hot shot developers will naturally tend to move on to the next great hardware incarnation so Eris, Moto Droid , and yes even the N1 will get drippers of goodness at a slowing pace as time moves on.

 

[uminchu]

Really? Well I hope your right but I doubt we will see nirvana.
I'm looking forward to stable rooted ROMs but I don't expect a huge benefit, just minor tweaks and stability eventually.
The Hero has been rooted for many months and I follow their progress since my wife owns one. I have the ERIS. I've seen minor goodness, but nothing major. Sure you can remove a few apps you don't need, but Verizon Bloatware? Really? I count only two apps in the bloat category. There are things I personally don't use like facebook and tweet, but I'm sure some people need those. I really don't think that HTC put a smoking hot processor in the Eris and then hey let's stick it to the customer by running it dog slow... . You might get a minor little tweak in speed at the expense of stability and battery life, but so what? Another thing, you are not going to get a highly custom kernel since that's the hardware Eris specific stuff. And its not your OS the way you like , it's Google's the way they like it with your stuff piled on top. Hardware takes a leap ahead about every 3 months, software lags about a year behind. The hot shot developers will naturally tend to move on to the next great hardware incarnation so Eris, Moto Droid , and yes even the N1 will get drippers of goodness at a slowing pace as time moves on.

Cheer up, you're in for a nice surprise. I have a Sprint Hero, so I can't speak specifically to Verizon bloat. I can tell you that Sprint jams plenty of bloat that clogs up available RAM that I prefer to use for much more useful apps. There are plenty of Hero ROMs and kernels that reap big gains in performance, nothing minor about it, with improved battery life as well. I'm currently running a 2.1 ROM with Sense and a tweaked kernel. It's based on the VZW leak, and it runs much faster than stock 1.5 ever did on our yesterday's news processor. You'll see for yourself that the processor is not the reason why your phone lags. Don't be so quick to go glass half empty. Ok, it may not be cell phone nirvana, but you're about to like your Eris a whole lot better.

Cheers.

Edit: Sorry, I guess I missed the part where your wife has a Sprint Hero. You don't actually say whether her phone is rooted and you are speaking from personal experience, or if your impressions are based on posts from the Hero forum. Have you or she actually rooted the phone and flashed a ROM and/or kernel?

 

[meanm50]

Really? Well I hope your right but I doubt we will see nirvana.
I'm looking forward to stable rooted ROMs but I don't expect a huge benefit, just minor tweaks and stability eventually.
The Hero has been rooted for many months and I follow their progress since my wife owns one. I have the ERIS. I've seen minor goodness, but nothing major. Sure you can remove a few apps you don't need, but Verizon Bloatware? Really? I count only two apps in the bloat category. There are things I personally don't use like facebook and tweet, but I'm sure some people need those. I really don't think that HTC put a smoking hot processor in the Eris and then hey let's stick it to the customer by running it dog slow... . You might get a minor little tweak in speed at the expense of stability and battery life, but so what? Another thing, you are not going to get a highly custom kernel since that's the hardware Eris specific stuff. And its not your OS the way you like , it's Google's the way they like it with your stuff piled on top. Hardware takes a leap ahead about every 3 months, software lags about a year behind. The hot shot developers will naturally tend to move on to the next great hardware incarnation so Eris, Moto Droid , and yes even the N1 will get drippers of goodness at a slowing pace as time moves on.

Sounds like root just isn't for you.

To me, root means the possibility of having proxy wap. I use Cricket and I am hoping that someone can eventually work around Cricket's lame proxy so I can use the market and other apps without wifi.

And the added bonus for me? Since I am on Cricket, and have no Verizon warranty anyways, I didn't lose a damn thing.

 

[nate678]

this forum seems dead but if someone wants to reply to me than thank you its greatly appreciated but back on topic. I rooted my phone and i dont know what it does, i heard you can get 3rd party software but i dont know how or where. If any1 can clear things up through proper explanation than i think it would be of high use to me and others who read this post

 

[scary alien]

this forum seems dead but if someone wants to reply to me than thank you its greatly appreciated but back on topic. I rooted my phone and i dont know what it does, i heard you can get 3rd party software but i dont know how or where. If any1 can clear things up through proper explanation than i think it would be of high use to me and others who read this post

A rooted phone, depending on the custom ROM that is installed, will give you the ability to do several things:

1. Install applications that require root permissions to do special, system-level functions (a simple example I have is drocap2, a free root-only screen capture app--you can't do this on your phone without root)

2. Use your phone as a wi-fi hotspot (i.e., wi-fi tethering)

3. Overclock your device to run a little faster, make it feel a little snappier

4. Ability to install a variety of custom ROMs, many yet to be built (I'm speaking of Froyo (Android 2.2) will be available for rooted Eris users; its very unclear if non-rooted Eris users will ever see a 2.2 update (I hope they do, but...))

5. The removal of bloatware or apps that you don't want or intend to use that consume precious memory (and other system resources); many custom ROM instantly give you at least 40MB more of free memory than a non-rooted 2.1 phone

That's all I've got for now. Hope that helps a little.

 

[nate678]

thanks that actually did help. i did a crappy rooting job and now im gunna spend a few hours redoing it, when im done ill get back to you and maybe you can help me out with a few of those things, they seem very interesting and again thank you

 

[markfeeney]

A rooted phone, depending on the custom ROM that is installed, will give you the ability to do several things:

1. Install applications that require root permissions to do special, system-level functions (a simple example I have is drocap2, a free root-only screen capture app--you can't do this on your phone without root)

2. Use your phone as a wi-fi hotspot (i.e., wi-fi tethering)

3. Overclock your device to run a little faster, make it feel a little snappier

4. Ability to install a variety of custom ROMs, many yet to be built (I'm speaking of Froyo (Android 2.2) will be available for rooted Eris users; its very unclear if non-rooted Eris users will ever see a 2.2 update (I hope they do, but...))

5. The removal of bloatware or apps that you don't want or intend to use that consume precious memory (and other system resources); many custom ROM instantly give you at least 40MB more of free memory than a non-rooted 2.1 phone

That's all I've got for now. Hope that helps a little.

Hi, a lot of this talk is beyond my level of understanding. I had a BlackBerry and was able to use the USB cable to connect my computer to MSExplorer, run my outlook, etc. It was slower but I was functionally connected. I have the Motorola Droid. Can I do this?

 

[nate678]

Hi, a lot of this talk is beyond my level of understanding. I had a BlackBerry and was able to use the USB cable to connect my computer to MSExplorer, run my outlook, etc. It was slower but I was functionally connected. I have the Motorola Droid. Can I do this?

Im pretty sure you can just google root motorola droid

 

[Frisco]

Is it really just the enticement of something new or what?

That's a part of getting a fresh operating system, as you know from your experiences with linux distros, especially the first few.

Rooting is getting just that, a fresh operating system for your device. As with a linux distro, you start with what the developer(s) of the ROM have fashioned and you go from there.

Again, as with a linux distro, you can choose to modify or remove what the maker has provided and replace things with what you prefer, because you are the administrator with root privileges.

The dangers of messing things up are similar to booting up as root user in a linux distro on your computer and not knowing what you're doing, especially in a shell, but the "nand backup" and recover system in the these rooted ROMs will save you every time as long as you have used that system to backup your last good one.

Overclocking and removing stock applications that are not removable in non-rooted phones seem to be the two biggies with rooters. There are other things, and I posted a thread asking experienced rooters about those other things.. many interesting answers have come along.

http://androidforums.com/all-things...c-deleting-stock-apps-what-have-you-done.html

 

[dewalist]

Root for me means overclocking and app2sd. That gets me a faster Eris that can install any amount of apps I feel like having - even the big +20mb ones. Wifi tethering is a sweet bonus, but I would still have wanted root even without that capability.

Secondary to that is getting rid of Sense (I didn't like any of it) so it is as vanilla as possible. This saves space, but that's not as important because of app2sd. It also allows Android updates to be easier to integrate than if Sense and other things are stacked on top...

 

[nate678]

how do i put roms on?

 

[Frisco]

how do i put roms on?

If you've rooted it is quite similar to the rooting instructions.

The first post here is for non-rooters who are ready:

http://androidforums.com/all-things-root-eris/53963-guide-stock-1-5-latest-root-2-1-a.html

Each ROM usually has a developer note on their page reminding all about the steps to take.. some do not require a wipe, for example, but most do.

Take a look here as one example:

[ROM]-[6/3/2010] Evil Eris v3.0(HTC Sense UI-Android 2.1)[Overclock and Apps2SD!] - xda-developers

 

[nate678]

If you've rooted it is quite similar to the rooting instructions.

The first post here is for non-rooters who are ready:

http://androidforums.com/all-things-root-eris/53963-guide-stock-1-5-latest-root-2-1-a.html

Each ROM usually has a developer note on their page reminding all about the steps to take.. some do not require a wipe, for example, but most do.

Take a look here as one example:

[ROM]-[6/3/2010] Evil Eris v3.0(HTC Sense UI-Android 2.1)[Overclock and Apps2SD!] - xda-developers

have u tried that rom yet? it just looks like a theme but i guess ill try it, that one isnt wipe right?

 

[Frisco]

have u tried that rom yet? it just looks like a theme but i guess ill try it, that one isnt wipe right?

I flashed EE 3 my first day of rooting. I liked it very much, but have moved on to lighter ROMs to my liking.

It's much more than a theme, but yes the developer has crafted quite a theme for it, in addition to all of the other work noted and listed on that page.

It is a wipe unless you're flashing it over the previous version of Evil Eris pointed out, as highlighted there also.

 

[nate678]

can u send me a link to a real simple rom to see if i am capable of actually using roms cuz i crapally flashed and rooted my phone, im gunna redo it all today around 5, is 12 where im at so just to give u an idea u know, but yeah it be pointless 4 me to do all that if i can actually use roms, so thanks if u can send me a link to a simple rom, im new so i dnt really understand much