Root Delighted with rooted Eris, but the grass is always greener

[notaguru]

Eris is small, thin, and light - and is a perfect fit for me. This one is rooted (by a friend) and KaosFroyo v.34 has it working brilliantly. I've never been happier with a smartphone. HOWEVER:

There's v.35 and v.36, and of course more to come. And, there are other ROMs. I would like to experiment, but not at the expense of reconfiguring everything. Is there a simple, step-by-step procedure for installing and testing other ROMs without killing my setup?

 

[blue85350]

i've been wondering the same thing. i'm getting pretty good at resetting my phone after i try the flavor of the week, but it'd be cool to not have to do it every time.

 

[Stagnation]

Do a nand backup, copy the folder from your phone to your PC, and rename it something descriptive so you'll know what it is. Flash and play with whatever ROM you want.

If you want to go back all you have to do is copy the nand backup folder back to your phone and restore it.

 

[notaguru]

I have a Nandroid backup but I'm ignorant of the rest. Why can't I store the backup on the SD card? Also, it seems to me that your suggestion permits experimenting with other ROMs but in each case I'll need to set up from scratch - a PITA.

 

[Podivin]

Well, to a certain degree each ROM will require some customization because of the differences from ROM to ROM. But that's really the reason WHY to try a new ROM, so that's OK in my opinion. But I like my home screens to look the same just so that I know my way around the most used functions of my phone - and I like it to look that way fairly quickly. After that I'll start messing with the 'new' stuff available to me.
What *I* do is this.
I use LauncherX, and have widgets set up that hold my most used applications (if you're not familiar with LauncherX I'm sure that sounds a little strange, so do a little research on the Market or AppBrain). I have three LX widgets on my home screen that hold my 15 most used apps, so I just have to place those three widgets to get my home screen looking 'right'. On a different screen I have 3 other LX widgets that hold my most used utility and root related apps, place those my phone is fully functional as far as I'm concerned (I only really use two home screens).
Before I flash a new ROM I use Titanium backup to back up all of my user apps (I don't get too concerned about system apps, I figure the new ROM will have different ones and I don't want to mix them).
After I flash the ROM the first thing I download from the market is Titanium Backup, and I use that to restore my user apps and all their settings. So not only do I get all my favorite apps back, but TB has 'remembered' my settings for each app and set them appropriately. LauncherX is one of my user apps, so all of my widgets are back, place the main 6 on my home screen and I'm ready to go. Once a new ROM has booted on my phone, it only takes me about 10 minutes to make it 'look' right. After that I may spend hours messing with settings, but that's a different story.

 

[thrawn86]

the best part about titanium backup is being able to flash/install it from recovery instead of having to go into the market. you can restore immediately once you boot up. best 5$ I've ever spent.

 

[Podivin]

Wait, huh, what??
I've got TB Pro, but I'm not familiar with the function you just described. How's that work?

 

[erisuser1]

Wait, huh, what??
I've got TB Pro, but I'm not familiar with the function you just described. How's that work?

I think he only means having a copy of the TB .apk on his SD, or he has it packaged up as a flashable overlay .zip that simply drops the .apk into /system/app/ (or /data/app/)

I could be wrong about what I ass-u-me, so hopefully thrawn86 will chime in.


eu1

 

[thrawn86]

Tb main screen -> more -> create "update.zip"

"this will create an unsigned update.zip file, suitable for installing titanium backup in recovery mode"

I select install as "user" application, and rename to titaniumbackupx.x.x.zip so I remember what its for. You can flash it straight from recovery without a reboot after your rom finishes flashing.


**also, if the market link for TiB isn't restored when doing it this way (doesn't really matter, everything will still be restored just fine), you can reinstall the free version from the market and it will automatically re-add and re-register itself as the pro version. just remember to refresh your update.zip every so often.

apparently theres even a dropbox functionality now but I haven't played with it.

 

[erisuser1]

"this will create an unsigned update.zip file, suitable for installing titanium backup in recovery mode"

Hmmmm... does it really mean "unsigned", as in, you can only use that with Clockwork recovery (not with Amon_RA)?

eu1

 

[thrawn86]

not sure. I use clockwork personally.

 

[erisuser1]

not sure. I use clockwork personally.

Thanks. The fact that you use Clockwork is consistent with being able to flash unsigned .zips. I suppose that if TB says "unsigned", it means it. (Which would make that feature unavailable to folks that use Amon_RA on the Eris).


eu1

 

[doogald]

I will verify for sure that you cannot flash the update.zip of TB from Amon's Recovery.

 

[thrawn86]

you know...a lot of roms say you MUST HAVE AMON's or else your phone will EXPLODE but i've been using it for awhile now without issue...

I wonder why this is?

 

[Demache]

you know...a lot of roms say you MUST HAVE AMON's or else your phone will EXPLODE but i've been using it for awhile now without issue...

I wonder why this is?

Maybe they are getting paid by AMON?

 

[MrDangerous]

I've seen several people unable (including myself) to get Clockwork to work. But Amon Ra always seems to work.