Root what is a ROM (smoked glass,bugless beast,ect.)

[russlia1]

hi everyone excuse my noobishness but we were all.noobs at a time. what exactly is a rom, is it just a heavily customized theme for your stock home?? are there any risks involved in flashing them to your phone. thank you

 

[The_Chief]

ROM stands for Read Only Memory, and basically replaces the operating system of your phone with a custom system. Naturally that requires a lot of risk and trust in the person who wrote it.

It also isn't as easy as downloading an app. You have to root your phone in order to gain the superuser permissions needed to replace the operating system and overwrite stuff.

The benefits are many: custom ROMs often have all the best of 2.1, Milestone, and custom programs built-in... for example, my Bugless Beast 1.1 ROM has live wallpapers and defaults to High Quality when watching YouTube videos. For me, the benefits outweighed the risks.

The risks are doing something wrong while installing it that would turn your phone into a brick. And rooting generally voids the phone's warranty. There ARE programs that you can use to unroot your phone if you need to, and all the information you need to successfully do this are located in the "ALL THINGS ROOT" section.

I hope this helps.

 

[messenger13]

It is easy to get ROMs and themes confused. The ROM is basically what The_Chief said ... using layman's terms. A theme is what special colors, fonts, and/or special graphic effects that get applied to an entire ROM, or just individual apps.

Don't worry ... as time goes on, you'll be a pro.

 

[russlia1]

thanks guys big. It seems pretty risky though ha, have you (cheif or messenger) had any problems with any roms you have installed

 

[The_Chief]

I was terrified when I rooted, and I was even more terrified when I loaded Bugless Beast. But considering the benefits I have (close to the perfect Droid - no problems at all), I would do it all again. There are step-by-step tutorials out there for both. Do your homework, read everything you can, and GO FOR IT

 

[messenger13]

thanks guys big. It seems pretty risky though ha, have you (cheif or messenger) had any problems with any roms you have installed

I've experimented with some pretty crazy stuff, so I have semi-"bricked" my phone. But because I always save what's called a "nandroid backup", I can always revert back to an earlier functioning ROM. Nandroid backups/recoveries are our safety net, so to speak.

 

[The_Chief]

I've experimented with some pretty crazy stuff, so I have semi-"bricked" my phone. But because I always save what's called a "nandroid backup", I can always revert back to an earlier functioning ROM. Nandroid backups/recoveries are our safety net, so to speak.

That's a point of contention for me, actually. There are several tutorials out there for doing a nandroid backup, but I have yet to find one on how to do a nandroid restore if needed. What circumstances are required to do a restore, what is involved in a wipe, what does it restore and how do you do it?