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Hate to be "that guy" and ask some newbish questions

growler13

Member
Apr 21, 2010
69
2
So I just switched from a winmo samsung omnia to the Droid, and i haven't actually received it yet, but I'm eager to mod it when it comes hopefully today. So first off I have been doing some research but being new to the android community its hard finding consistent or easy to find answers so I thought if someone would be helpful enough to answer some questions.

I assume my Droid will be coming with 2.1, and I want to root it as soon as possible. I've read that a vulnerability hasn't been found yet for 2.1 so downgrading to 2.0.1 is the only way to root. I've also seen another method, but the name slips my mind. Can someone please clarify and point me in the right direction?

If I attain root access will I be able to store and run apps off my sd card?

On my crappy winmo phone I had to flash a custom rom to just make it somewhat usable, but for android a custom rom should just make it that much better. So obviously I want to flash a custom rom, my question is; is there an area where these assorted roms are located with stats where I can view them side by side, and decide which is the best for me?

Also I may have misread something but do some of these roms overclock your device when you flash them? I definitely want to overclock to about 800-1ghz range so any advice here would help.

And lastly I've seen some info about low voltage kernels, and just wanted to know if there were any cons to switching to a low voltage as opposed to stock or other voltages. Also if these are in one convenient place for comparison that would help.

Thanks to anyone who answers and please don't hold back the tech talk. Oh yeah, one last thing, I run Ubuntu on my home computer, does android play well with ubuntu and is it necessary to have windows to flash, etc?
 
So I just switched from a winmo samsung omnia to the Droid, and i haven't actually received it yet, but I'm eager to mod it when it comes hopefully today. So first off I have been doing some research but being new to the android community its hard finding consistent or easy to find answers so I thought if someone would be helpful enough to answer some questions.

I assume my Droid will be coming with 2.1, and I want to root it as soon as possible. I've read that a vulnerability hasn't been found yet for 2.1 so downgrading to 2.0.1 is the only way to root. I've also seen another method, but the name slips my mind. Can someone please clarify and point me in the right direction?

I have seen that a lot of Droids are still coming with 2.01 out of the box, so you may get lucky. The other method you can find in the root section. Basically, you will be able to flash a ROM and when using that ROM you will have SU permissions so you will be able to use rooted apps/overclock. DroidMod team created this exploit.

If I attain root access will I be able to store and run apps off my sd card?

Only the Cyanogen ROMS ported by Koush allow apps2sd at this time.

On my crappy winmo phone I had to flash a custom rom to just make it somewhat usable, but for android a custom rom should just make it that much better. So obviously I want to flash a custom rom, my question is; is there an area where these assorted roms are located with stats where I can view them side by side, and decide which is the best for me?

Check out the root section in this forum. Also, the app ROM Manager has a compilation of some popular ROMS, themes, and overclock kernels. However, no side by side comparison is given. You just have to try it for yourself or research a little before flashing.

Also I may have misread something but do some of these roms overclock your device when you flash them? I definitely want to overclock to about 800-1ghz range so any advice here would help.

Some ROMS come overclocked. Cyanogen ROMS currently only come clocked with a 600 mhz max kernel, but like I mentioned with ROM Manager you can find many many other kernels and it is as easy as downloading from the app and installing to flash.

And lastly I've seen some info about low voltage kernels, and just wanted to know if there were any cons to switching to a low voltage as opposed to stock or other voltages. Also if these are in one convenient place for comparison that would help.

Low voltage kernels should give better battery life. There is no con to using them that I know of, however a lot of phones simply won't be able to use a low voltage kernel. It would cause soft reboots and bootloops. If your phone can handle a low voltage kernel I would use it.

Thanks to anyone who answers and please don't hold back the tech talk. Oh yeah, one last thing, I run Ubuntu on my home computer, does android play well with ubuntu and is it necessary to have windows to flash, etc?

It will work fine. Theres a version of ADB for Ubuntu, Windows, Mac, etc.

hope this helps, again check the root section of this forum for more information.
 
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ubuntu is perfect! android is linux based so using ubuntu will make life much simpler, however, to downgrade to 2.0.1 you will need a windows machine. it requires the rsd lite windows application and with that you can flash a 2.0.1 sbf file, you can also flash a 2.1 sbf file with sprecovery built in which would allow you to begin flashing custom roms. go to the all things root subforum and check out some guides i have posted up, that should get you started.
some roms come with overclocked kernels, some dont. it is super easy to flash a kernel with overclocking and wifi tethering built in though. low voltage kernels are great, they tend to save on battery life and also reduce heat output from the cpu. one thing to remember is that kernels are usually rom specific.


Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk
 
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Just my 2 cents here, I also converted from winmo to the droid. Custom roms for winmo were an amazing improvement from stock. With android not so much. Yes its better than stock. You will notice speed increase mostly from overclocking, 800 to 1ghz is a noticable change but it may not wow you. I guess I am just saying don't expect the same performance increases from custom roms alone that you saw on wnmo. This is a praise for how good android is out of the box.

Of course there are other benefits of rooting to enjoy, and roms will get better and better. There is a sense ui rom in the works and I'm sure much more to come.

Good luck and happy modding!
 
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Thanks for the answers guys, clarified things a little for me. Look like I'm still going to have to do some research, or at least wait till I actually get the phone before I start tearing it apart, lol.

Another question though. Can I overclock on the stock rom?

You mean without installing something like Bugless Beast, CyanogenMod, etc?

Yes, you can. All you need is root and a custom kernel (I'm sure both of those terms are familiar to you, what with your background in Linux ;) ). Root lets you run setCPU which is an app that lets you change your phone's clock, and the custom kernel lets you specify clocks other than the stock ones that come with the phone.

If you can get access to a Windows PC then don't be afraid to try new things cause you can always use RSD Lite to get back to stock if (when) you mess something up. :)
 
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Just my 2 cents here, I also converted from winmo to the droid. Custom roms for winmo were an amazing improvement from stock. With android not so much. Yes its better than stock. You will notice speed increase mostly from overclocking, 800 to 1ghz is a noticable change but it may not wow you. I guess I am just saying don't expect the same performance increases from custom roms alone that you saw on wnmo. This is a praise for how good android is out of the box.

Of course there are other benefits of rooting to enjoy, and roms will get better and better. There is a sense ui rom in the works and I'm sure much more to come.

Good luck and happy modding!

Yeah I figured the same thing, and like I said I haven't even gotten the phone yet (tonight hopefully), so I think I'll just root it, overclock it, and maybe install a low voltage kernel. Assuming I can do all that easily.
 
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I came to Android from a HTC Touch Pro so I know all about the ROM's you absolutely HAD to flash to make WinMo usable. Now as far as you just wanting to flash a kernel under the stock ROM, don't bother. I would just go ahead and flash a full ROM, maybe something like CyanogenMOD or Bugless Beast. If you get the ROM Manager app in the market you can use it to flash both of these ROM's and a few others plus custom kernels with overclocking and wifi tethering.
 
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Well it was a refurb which I knew i was getting but they said they would send all the accesories. I actually got the Droid because they replaced my Omnia 5 times and I just yelled at customer service and they said they'd send a refurb droid for free. Anyway there sending all the accessories and I expect them saturday or monday. Until then its just on my table taunting me with all its androidy goodness
 
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I kept my Verizon XV6900 completely bone-stock. Is that why it was such a piece of crap? :(

No. lol. I tried a few custom roms, it wasn't winmo in that case, the phone was a piece of crap.. :D

Oh, alright, glad to know my phone was living up to its full crap-tential. ;)

I had the "Vogue" as well...That didn't make a bad feature phone, but it was a pretty bad smartphone! It was my business phone (thus the reason for WinMo) and when I got my droid, I had to switch to my Q9M cause the touch screen was SO unresponsive and I couldn't use it after touching the droid's screen. I loaded custom ROMs but it didn't make the screen bigger or better :D
 
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Well it was a refurb which I knew i was getting but they said they would send all the accesories. I actually got the Droid because they replaced my Omnia 5 times and I just yelled at customer service and they said they'd send a refurb droid for free. Anyway there sending all the accessories and I expect them saturday or monday. Until then its just on my table taunting me with all its androidy goodness

That's BS! I've been in the same boat and as a "business" customer...they would have never sent a "new to you"...refurb (or at least they wouldn't get away with it ;))!

Now, you're getting a refurb droid I would expect this NOT to reset your NE2 upgrade date. I'd make sure to call and verify that if I were you. If they insist...you should demand a NEW phone and not a refurb. But I wouldn't be concerned about having a refurbed Droid. You are just a likely to have a problem with it as you would a new one.

Enjoy! It's a great device! :D Well, at least when you can power it up...
 
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