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Root FEAR NOT THE KERNEL - Scared? Then stay in the kiddie-pool...

ZombiBlanc

Well-Known Member
Jun 7, 2010
130
63
Allentown, PA
can someone give a brief explanation as to what a 'kernal' is?
I rooted my Dinc. I bought setCPU. I have several different profiles set up and what-not, and it even tells me when my battery drops below 50% that it's changing to my <50% profile, however, the MAX and MIN green bars on the main page of the setCPU app never really display what the profile says. my screen looks roughly like this:


576 MHz
scaling ondemand
576 max 576 min

but the scales underneath say Max: 998400 Min: 998400.


also, can someone explain the difference between userspace, ondemand, and performance?

Should I not have downloaded this app yet? do I need to wait for some 'kernal' before this app will work properly? thanks in advance for any help.


The kernel is basically the engine of the device operating system. In terms of overclocking, its the part of the engine that regulates how much fuel gets burned - like a governor valve. The stock kernel caps the device's voltage usage (fuel) - and therefore its operating speed - at a rate somewhat below what it is actually capable of handling, because the faster it runs the hotter the cpu gets (and like an engine that overheats, if the components in your device overheat you could fry the cpu and render your device DOA).

The ejhart hydra kernels that are currently in (somewhat) wide use I think can be considered generally stable at this point. FIND THEM HERE:

Hydra Kernels - Custom Kernels for the HTC Incredible

You have a choice there. ejhart has made one version that is essentially stock but is "undervolted" or has a reduced energy usage to save the battery on your device. Then there is one that is overclocked at stock voltage to 1.15ghz (your Dinc boasts its top stock speed at 1ghz), but because it is overclocked, some folks (like myself) had stability issues with that one (crashes, freeze-ups) because it was running too fast on too little fuel (mine was also running bitchin' hot on that kernel).

I swapped it out a few days ago for the overclocked 1.15ghz overvolted kernel that feeds the cpu 25mv of extra juice when it overclocks to compensate for the higher rate of speed. Since then, my Dinc is humming with excellent battery life and no excessive heat at all. No crashes, no freeze-ups. Totally stable. I am in love with this kernel and may leave my wife for it. There are also 1.13ghz options if stability is still an issue. All of these kernels come in both with-Wireless-N and without-Wireless-N flavors.

Now, it should be said that as a general rule, overvolting is dangerous because it does not take much extra electricity flowing through the cpu to burn the bitch out. And you can find the hand-wringers on the threads doing the whole Chicken Little "the-sky-is-falling" routine, jabbering about how bad overvolting is. These people are fraidy-cats and little girls with pigtails who aren't old enough to root and kernel without adult supervision. The reality is that the ejhart kernels that actually do overvolt (like the one I have on my device now) only do so for brief snatches of overclocking that happen less than occasionally and are in fact so low-volted for such short intervals of time as to be almost negligible - its not like you are running the device at an overvolt full-time - its only overvolting when the overclock spikes, and then kicks right back to stock voltage after the overclock interval.

All of this said, as with all things custom and ****ing awesome, do so at your own risk. Each device is different, and these are some very intricate machines we are talking about. When you tinker around with the os, you invalidate your warranty and could fry your device.

READ THE INSTRUCTIONS ON THE EJHART SITE CAREFULLY BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING - DON'T BE A YAHOO AND GO ALL COWBOY ON YOUR $500 DINC BECAUSE YOU GOT TOO EXCITED TO READ THE DIRECTIONS. In this regard, I am reminded of a story. One fine day, there was a papa bull and his young son grazing on a hillside overlooking a pasture of fine-looking, big-ass-having lady-cows. All horny and whatnot, the young bull turned to the papa bull and said, "Hey Pop, whattya say we run down the hill and go **** one of those cows?" The papa bull, shaking his head and smiling at the overexuberance of the youngster, replied, "No son. Whattya say we walk down the hill and **** them all." The moral of the story, you ask? Read the goddamn directions on the ejhart site before you go running down that custom-kernel hill with a honking boner, all jazzed-up to get some, only to brick your Dinc because you didn't take the time to know what the hell you were up to.

So, yeah, you could do very bad things to your device by overclocking. But then again, monkeys could fly out of my ass at any moment, but that is less rather than more likely to occur in the near future.

AND...

You can always switch right back to stock kernel at any time.

If you rooted, swapping the kernel will be easy-peasy. Like all things custom and ****ing awesome, its a bit scary the first time, but when you see how easy and reversible it is, it becomes no big deal. Just back your shit up before you go a-tinkerin' around in there.

That's what she said.

Happy warranty-invalidating!
 
cool story bro. I think this forum needs a 'no thanks' button. If 1150 is all the snapdragon can go, then there's really not even a point in doing it.

i'm hoping that a kernel will be made that can be overclocked to say 1.4 maybe?? but i have a feeling that the snapdragon just isn't cut out for overclocking.....but then again who really needs this phone to be any faster than it already is?
 
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i'm hoping that a kernel will be made that can be overclocked to say 1.4 maybe?? but i have a feeling that the snapdragon just isn't cut out for overclocking.....but then again who really needs this phone to be any faster than it already is?

Exactly! Maybe one day we will be wondering how we ever used a phone with only 1ghz, but for now this thing is top of the line.

I had the Overlock undervolt w/ wireless N, but it seemed to make my phone slower and I had a lot more force closes on apps. I went back to basic root. I may give the 1135 a shot, but I really do not see the need for it.
 
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