Root Quick INTRO TO ROOTING for those new to rooting

[EarlyMon]

Awesome post except one thing. You don't mention any negatives of rooting at all. Like, when will it have 4g support...etc.

You also have the option of using a stock rooted rom - and then you have everything the stock phone has, 4G, all of it - plus the advantage of being able to rip out the bundleware that came with the phone, as well as any social networking apps you don't care about - as well as access cool root-only tools like ShootMe.

You can also get that as a deodexed version, allowing you to further customize things.

 

[cabbie]

thanks staff!

 

[jstryker]

rooting the Hero for your wife's phone is fortunately an extremely easy task compared to the EVO since its been out far longer. FreshKitchen for hero by flipz (who does Fresh for EVO as well) has a program that auto-roots it, which is what I used: Hero CDMA Geek For Me

 

[cabbie]

assuming you successfully root, you can flash the RUU to bring you back to stock out-of-the-box condition, its in the OP

 

[TheBarron]

These are some good questions and I'm disappointed that the post doesn't seem to have been acknowledged at all, much less answered. Anyone?

This is a great overview, and I like how it gets into the definitions of various elements involved in rooting.

One problem I have found with many "posts for noobs" is that they are just tutorials, which I'm sure is fine for most people, but the geek in me wants to know what's going on.

I have rooted and unrooted two Evos now and installed multiple roms and troubleshooted my own problems a hell of a lot, and so I don't consider myself a noob anymore, but I still have questions about the nitty gritty of what's actually happening with my phone. If anybody can provide any answers or point me in the right direction to a post that answers these questions, that would be much appreciated. And I will certainly answer any noob questions to the best of my ability.

1. My biggest question is, why do different parts of the OS have to be rewritten separately? I.e., the data, system, cache, dalvik cache. If a nandroid backup is an image of the ROM, why wouldn't it take care of everything? Are different parts of the system stored in physically separate memory chips?

2. And what about the bootloader? Is that stored separately? It seems that the conceptual starting point for any full rooting is to get the engineering build (version 0.76) installed on the phone as opposed to the stock build (version 0.79), and all the rooting techinques are just ways to do that.

4. How about the radio part of it? Why is that separate?

5. I used the Simple Root method to get full root. Does anybody know how the Bloons game from Ninja Kiwi (a great flash game) exploits the system to gain root access?

Thanks!

 

[EarlyMon]

Once you're rooted, you may be curious about root-only apps. In case it doesn't get stickied, here's a _great_ thread on that -

http://androidforums.com/evo-4g-all-things-root/161602-evo-root-only-apps.html

 

[cabbie]

updated with more definitions, contact backup process and earlymon's link

 

[AHWagner]

I'm a noob at Rooting also and from my understandings, I can Root my EVO and still keep my stock ROM. I can aswell use Root only Apps like Titanium Back-up or SetCPU without a problem, right?

All I really want to do is keep my Stock ROM and use Root only Apps to improve my battery life. This is very much possible, no problems?

I also would like to know when a new version/update for the EVO comes about, how will this effect my EVO? Will it brick the phone? Do I need to go back to my stock unrooted RUU?

 

[MelEvo]

You, with both the know-how and patience are greatly appreciated!...many questions and posts soon to come.

 

[cabbie]

I'm a noob at Rooting also and from my understandings, I can Root my EVO and still keep my stock ROM. I can aswell use Root only Apps like Titanium Back-up or SetCPU without a problem, right?

All I really want to do is keep my Stock ROM and use Root only Apps to improve my battery life. This is very much possible, no problems?

I also would like to know when a new version/update for the EVO comes about, how will this effect my EVO? Will it brick the phone? Do I need to go back to my stock unrooted RUU?

Yes you can. You can have a phone that is 100% stock except that its rooted. And if you are rooted, never accept OTAs, you will lose root. You need to wait for a developer to incorporate the update into the ROM and then you use that to update.

Those are good questions so I'm going to add this to the original post.

I DONT want this to become a troubleshooting thread for issues specific to their phone...this is a resource thread.

 

[AHWagner]

Wait so you said I can keep my phone 100% stock, but still rooted...and then you said not to except OTA's because it will unroot my phone. What exactly would happen, would it completely wipe my phone; ie, Stock?

 

[novox77]

Wait so you said I can keep my phone 100% stock, but still rooted...and then you said not to except OTA's because it will unroot my phone. What exactly would happen, would it completely wipe my phone; ie, Stock?

"rooted stock" and "stock" are two different things. OTA updates are "stock," and they are designed to take the "rooted" out of "rooted stock."

But don't worry. Rooted ROMs disable OTA notifications. So you have to actively download an OTA non-rooted stock rom to kill your root status.

 

[AHWagner]

And if it does kill my root status, what exactly would happen? I don't plan on using a new ROM.

 

[surfologist87]

And if it does kill my root status, what exactly would happen? I don't plan on using a new ROM.

Then you will have the update, with no root. And you will have to have an unrooted phone until the developers can find an exploit and get your new stock unrooted version, rooted.

If you choose to root now, the best thing to do would be to stick on your current rooted stock rom when an update comes out again, and wait until the developers get the rooted update on the forums. Then you flash it, which is simple.

Im trying to understand this all myself, if i made any mistakes, please feel free to correct me guys.

 

[AHWagner]

Oh, thanks. I understand now. But since you said you're new to this too, anyone else wanna chime in? Thanks!

 

[brd912]

Yes you can. You can have a phone that is 100% stock except that its rooted. And if you are rooted, never accept OTAs, you will lose root. You need to wait for a developer to incorporate the update into the ROM and then you use that to update.

Those are good questions so I'm going to add this to the original post.

I DONT want this to become a troubleshooting thread for issues specific to their phone...this is a resource thread.

seems as if your the brightest crayon in this box so i need to ask one question,and you or anybody in this thread can answer.well actually 2 questions

1.To put a custom rom on my phone,do i need to find on the says it supports my phone? i, already rooted

2.if you answered yes to the above question then does anybody know where i can find a custom rom for the samsung intercept??

 

[Southview]

I'm gettin dizzy areadin all this tech talk so I'm takin a couple aspirin and a 30 pack of Miller Hi Life and chillin!

 

[cabbie]

seems as if your the brightest crayon in this box so i need to ask one question,and you or anybody in this thread can answer.well actually 2 questions

1.To put a custom rom on my phone,do i need to find on the says it supports my phone? i, already rooted

2.if you answered yes to the above question then does anybody know where i can find a custom rom for the samsung intercept??

absolutely yes. BAD BAD things can happen if you flash ROMs intended for other phones, and im fairly sure that if you try to flash a radio intended for another phone you will absolutely brick the device.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find a samsung intercept subforum on XDA for you. But if ROMs have been developed for it, I'm sure its out on the web somewhere.

 

[icereignblack]

So I have a question about the Kernels? I have my Evo root with a stock rom with root access. Now I understand that the kernel is the "bedframe" of the phone while the rom is the "mattress". I also understand that you can use apps like rom manager to change the roms. I am slightly confused on the changing the Kernel. So if I have a kernel that is not optimized for a Rom that I would want to run, how do I go about changing it? Do I have to use the ADB again or is it possible to use the ROM manager to change a Kernel as well as a rom?

 

[cabbie]

Reboot into recovery using ROM Manager and flash it like anything else. All it will do is replace your current kernel.

 

[cabbie]

updated to add bootloader and fastboot clarification. correct me if im wrong on those and keep sending suggestions.

 

[cabbie]

So I have a question about the Kernels? I have my Evo root with a stock rom with root access. Now I understand that the kernel is the "bedframe" of the phone while the rom is the "mattress". I also understand that you can use apps like rom manager to change the roms. I am slightly confused on the changing the Kernel. So if I have a kernel that is not optimized for a Rom that I would want to run, how do I go about changing it? Do I have to use the ADB again or is it possible to use the ROM manager to change a Kernel as well as a rom?

this is a little vague. What ROM and Kernel are you talking about? I don't imagine huge issues occuring unless you flash a kernel designed for an AOSP ROM like Cyanogen vs one with SenseUI like Fresh. If you want to change a kernel, all you have to do is flash it (always wipe cache and dalvikcache before doing so). Just put it on the root of your SD card and go nuts.

Going to add AOSP to the lexicon now

 

[ExSaint]

Well done my friend, well done!!! Very useful!!! This needs to be stickied.

 

[cabbie]

it was stickied but the Mods wanted to clear clutter and bundle it into the one lone sticky at the top of this forum. I've noticed that since they've done so that the redundant 'what is root' thread questions have increased since this root 'lexicon' wasn't immediately apparent to users. Not my forum tho

 

[twospirits]

^ This is true, and although officially we are trying to limit the amount of stickies in all sections to One, it is up to the discretion of the staff member usually in charge of the sections to determine if a another post would be more beneficial in keeping it stickied or not.

in this case i think having this thread falls under such criteria.
The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.

Thread re-stickied.

TS