Root <ROM> Gravity Smart 4/2/2012

[gblues]

This ROM is very minimalist. I have not added any wallpapers, ringtones, or extraneous apps. Nothing is themed. What it does do is provide you with a minimum baseline to avoid the inherent design flaws with the stock ROM.

Why use a custom ROM?

The phone has very little internal memory. In the stock configuration, the little space that is available quickly gets eaten up by updates to pre-installed apps (which supplement, not replace, the default version). Even if every app you install installs to the SD card, the Dalvik cache files still go to internal storage.

How is this solved?

First, non-essential apps are removed. This includes most of the bloatware like the Tetris, UNO, and Bejeweled 2 demos, and other large apps like Swype and Facebook. I also removed the Google apps that are available on the Android Market (Maps, Street View, Gmail, Voice Search, and Google Search) and replaced the stock Android Market app with the current version (Google Play). The end result is that none of the apps in this ROM are going to prompt for an update (except maybe the Market/Play, but there's no way around that).

Second, the ROM is pre-rooted so apps like Titanium Backup and Link2SD will work immediately.

Third, I've pre-installed Link2SD. This requires the SD card to be prepared (identically to Arhtard's ROM). Once configured, Link2SD stores both the app and its Dalvik cache files on the SD card, which prevents the bloat-death of the phone.

Installation Instructions

Upgrading from a previous release? See UPGRADING below!

Preparing your SD card

Tools you will need:

• Either a microSD reader, or a regular SD reader with the microSD adapter that came with your phone. YOU CANNOT USE THE PHONE AS THE CARD READER.
• MiniTool Partition Wizard Home Edition (free download here)
• The microSD card from your phone.

Use the steps below to prepare your SD card:

1. BACK UP THE CURRENT CONTENTS OF YOUR SD CARD. The remaining steps will reformat the card and erase all the data.
2. Insert the microSD card into the reader (via the adapter if necessary). If the Windows AutoPlay window appears, close it with the X. You cannot partition the SD card while it is in the phone. You must use a dedicated card reader with your PC.
3. Launch MiniTool Partition Wizard.
4. Identify which volume corresponds with your SD card (the stock card will show a 1.8GB FAT partition).
   
5. Right-click the volume and choose "Delete All Partitions" and confirm when prompted.
   
   
6. Right-click in the unallocated space and choose "Create".
   
   
7. Use the settings shown in the screenshow below:
   
   
8. Right-click the volume again and choose "Create partition" again.
   • You will get a warning that Windows will only recognize the first partition. Ignore the warning.
   
9. Right-click the FAT32 partition and choose "Format".
   
   
10. Use these format settings (be careful because it will default to NTFS):
    
    
11. Right-click the ext2 partition and choose "Format", and make sure to choose ext2 for the file system. Be careful because it will default to NTFS.
    
    
12. Click the Apply button (left-most icon in the toolbar) and wait for it to finish.
    
    

Installing the ROM

New! Version 1.5: update.zip - Minus
Version 1.25: update - Minus
Version 1.2: update - Minus
Version 1.0: update - Minus

NOTE: Do not unzip the update.zip!

Flashing instructions:

1. BACK UP YOUR DATA BECAUSE THIS WILL ERASE EVERYTHING.
2. Copy update.zip to the root level of the SD card (this means don't put it in a subfolder).
3. Use the Windows "Safely remove hardware" to eject your SD card.
4. Put the SD card into your phone and shut down the phone.
5. Open the keyboard, press and hold the 'T' key, and keep it held down while you power the phone back on. This brings you to the recovery image. If you are upgrading from the previous release, stop here and see "Upgrading?" below.
6. Use the volume keys to go down to "Erase user data/factory reset" and confirm with the Power button. You'll have to go down past the "cancel"s to get down to the confirmation.
7. Similarly, clear the cache partition.
8. Finally, choose "install update.zip" and wait as the phone is flashed.
9. Wait for the phone to reboot. It will sit on the flashing "SAMSUNG" logo for about a minute. This is completely normal.
10. When prompted, either enable or disable location services (at your discretion). This should put you at the home screen. Wait for all the other startup stuff to finish.

Configuring Link2SD

Before you start installing applications, set up Link2SD:

1. Tap Menu > Settings > Applications > Development and enable "USB Debugging"
2. Tap the Applications icon (blue window in bottom-right) and open Link2SD
3. Choose "ext2" when prompted for the partition type.
4. Allow SuperUser to grant root access to Link2SD
5. Link2SD will tell you the startup script was added. At this point, restart your phone.
6. Open Link2SD again. Tap Menu > Settings
7. Enable "Auto Link"
8. Tap on "Install location" and choose Internal.
9. Tap the Back button until you're back at the home screen.

You're done!

Next steps:

• Launch Play Store (formerly Android Market) and sign into your Google account
• Download whichever stock Google apps you want, Facebook, etc.
• If you download GMail, you will need to tap Menu > Settings > Accounts and Sync > [your Google account] and enable "Sync Gmail" afterwards.

Upgrading?

If you're upgrading from the previous release, the upgrade process is a lot simpler:

1. Follow steps 1-5 of the flashing instructions.
2. But do not erase your data. Just erase the cache partition.
3. Flash update.zip and wait for the phone to restart.
4. Link2SD will give you a notification about a "mount error", and apps may be missing from your home screen. don't panic!
5. Open Link2SD, and tap "Recreate Mount" when prompted.

A note about Link2SD

In the above configuration, apps that install to internal storage will get automatically moved to the SD card and linked by Link2SD. However, if the app installs itself to the SD card, you will need to manually move it to the phone and link it in order to keep it out of your phone's internal memory. The steps for that are below:

1. Tap Menu > Settings > Applications > Manage applications and tap on the affected app.
2. Tap "Move to phone"
3. Launch Link2SD and locate the app in the list, and tap on it.
4. At the bottom of the screen, tap on "Create link"

Credits

While I dumped the packages in the ROM using my own phone, I couldn't have gotten that far without 3 people:

• Arhtard, whose ROM gave me a very good template for how a working ROM should be packaged; and
• keith1764, who provided enough information to get me back to the stock firmware after I'd already messed around a bit with Arhtard's ROM.
• Lorenz, a blogger that gave me critical details for how to actually sign the update.zip file.

 

[gblues]

Removed Applications

A complete list of removed applications is provided below:

• AOL Instant Messenger
• Bejeweled 2 Demo
• AllShare
• DriveSmart
• DualClock
• Enhanced Caller ID (pay service on T-Mo)
• Facebook
• Glympse
• Gmail
• T-Mobile App Mall
• Google Maps
• T-Mobile MyAccount
• Photobucket
• Android Tips
• StickyMessageWidget
• Street View for Google Maps
• Swype Tips
• Tetris demo
• TeleNav (pay service on T-Mo)
• UNO demo
• Android Market (replaced with current "Play Store")
• Google Voice Search
• YouTube
• Cloud Texting (ZipWhip)
• Lookout
• T-Mobile Visual Voice Mail
• sihome-signed-aligned-tmo-android-8-prod-107357.apk (I have no idea what this app is, other than it's a T-Mobile app)

 

[gblues]

What's New

Version 1.5:

• Built-in Link2SD updated to latest version
• Re-added Swype
• Performance tweaks to /system/build.prop (thanks Arhtard)

Version 1.25:

• This version has been re-odexed to improve performance and drastically reduce internal memory footprint. It is otherwise identical to 1.2.

Version 1.2:

• Fixed broken Settings app in 1.1 release.
• Re-added Google Search (GoogleQuickSearchBox.apk) to fix search button on home screen.
• [DOC] Improved instructions for partitioning the SD card, now featuring screenshots!

Version 1.1:

• Links to DriveSmart, the Social Networking Key, and the Messenger Key have been removed from the Settings app.
• The Web/Search/Mail/Social Network keys on the physical keyboard have been remapped to arrow keys (up/down/left/right respectively).
• The ROM has been completely deodexed in anticipation of being able to make other changes (finding other hard links, etc).
• Re-added notiSlider.apk and Gallery3d.apk because these are stock apps and removing notiSlider causes a FC when trying to change notification settings.

Known Issues

As of the 1.2 release, I've resolved the main issues. I think. If anyone finds a hardcoded reference to a stock app that causes a FC when you tap it, please report it here or by PM.

 

[gblues]

After a few false starts, I noticed that Samsung has the sourcecode posted at http://opensource.samsung.com/ and I am downloading now. I'm hoping for something useful...

 

[BrownHP800]

Good job. Keep up the good work. I like the fact that is is very minimal. Once you figure out the hard link issue it will be great.

 

[gblues]

After inspecting the Samsung download, it looks like it's basically a collection of the files that Samsung modified from the stock Froyo source. I have set up a build environment and unpacked the Samsung files, as well as the stock Froyo source. The next step is to do a recursive diff between the two and see if I can successfully rebuild the stock image from source code. Then, I can start looking for the hard links.

 

[gblues]

So, I've run a comparison. It looks like the posted source doesn't include the customizations made by Samsung to any of the stock FroYo apps. I have a request in to Samsung for the code, but I'm not holding my breath.

 

[BrownHP800]

Wish I could help. That is just a little over my head.

Did you ask Arhtard for any help or pointers? He seems like a decent person.

 

[gblues]

Wish I could help. That is just a little over my head.

Did you ask Arhtard for any help or pointers? He seems like a decent person.

I haven't spoken with Arhtard at all, although I imagine he's done a lot of the same work I'm doing. I'm doing it mainly for the learning experience, so I don't mind figuring it out on my own.

I've got an updated version uploading now. Gonna be editing the OP here fairly soon. Stay posted!

 

[gblues]

Version 1.1 has been uploaded. OP is updated.

What's new:
- Settings app has been updated to remove DriveSmart and the social networking/messenger button settings.
- email/social network/web/search buttons remapped to arrow keys.
- ROM is now completely deodexed, mainly to save me time if/when I need to make further changes to the apps.
- re-added a couple items (notiSlider.apk and Gallery3D) because they are stock apps (wouldn't have called Gallery3d if I hadn't seen it in the FroYo source).

 

[cjablonski]

It's cool to see there's still some interest in this phone. I'll probably be stuck with mine for a while!

 

[filmmaker]

I could use some help. I followed the instructions, and while the ROM loaded, I can't access the settings. If I hit the settings button, nothing happens. If an application (such as link2sd) tries to access settings, I get a "could not launch" message. Thoughts?

 

[gblues]

I could use some help. I followed the instructions, and while the ROM loaded, I can't access the settings. If I hit the settings button, nothing happens. If an application (such as link2sd) tries to access settings, I get a "could not launch" message. Thoughts?

Can you see if the same thing happens with the 1.0 release? Thanks!

 

[filmmaker]

Can you see if the same thing happens with the 1.0 release? Thanks!

Thanks for the prompt response. It's claiming an hour to complete the download, but I'm working on it and will let you know as soon as I do.

 

[filmmaker]

Seems to work with the 1.0 version.

 

[kris10yager]

Dude or lady, you saved me and my bricked piece of garbage! Thanks so much!

 

[kris10yager]

I could use some help. I followed the instructions, and while the ROM loaded, I can't access the settings. If I hit the settings button, nothing happens. If an application (such as link2sd) tries to access settings, I get a "could not launch" message. Thoughts?

Me too! Thoughts, anyone? PLEASE?

 

[kris10yager]

Seems to work with the 1.0 version.

You mean I have to do this whole thing again? From the beginning? Repartition and everything? And would this be "updating" from my 1.1 version? Can you "up" date to an older thing? Hmm.

 

[kris10yager]

You mean I have to do this whole thing again? From the beginning? Repartition and everything? And would this be "updating" from my 1.1 version? Can you "up" date to an older thing? Hmm.

Well, I went ahead and did everything again, installing version 1.0 as if it were new, not an update, and I did this twice, in fact, and both times, the phone now fails to recognize the SIM card. Any thoughts?

 

[kris10yager]

Now I've tried to do Version 1.1. Same thing. No SIM card recognized. And there's no network recognition. It's completely nonfunctional now.

 

[gblues]

I think I may have forgotten to sign settings.apk before I packaged it. I will upload a new release tonight when I get home and post a link.

 

[gblues]

EDIT: I found the problem with the Settings app. Keep an eye out for version 1.2 coming very soon!

 

[XanTech]

Big shock there...something not working. I partitioned and formatted the card according to the instructions, and lo and behold, my phone tells me the card is damaged and has to be formatted in the phone, which erases the partition. If you have a Virtual Connection, you want to do this for me? Maybe it'll work for you, because it sure as bloody hell isn't working from my end. By the way, your verbatim for the program included for Partitioning in Windows is inaccurate. There is no "Clear" only "Wipe".

 

[XanTech]

Yeah... and on the Windows side, when using the program mentioned after completing everything, the system screws up and shows only ONE partition. Looks like someone needs to keep there information up to date.

I'll figure it out, and when I do, I'll pick up the ball that you obviously dropped and don't give a rat's butt that you dropped. Way to go.

 

[gblues]

No need to be hostile. I don't work for this site or for Samsung, and I do this as a volunteer. I didn't take the time to get fancy with screenshots because I was in a rush. I'm sorry they weren't specific enough for you to follow.

Based on the error, I suspect you either failed to format the partitions after creating them, or created them in the wrong order. Also, make sure you are accessing the sd carrd directly and not through the phone, because partitioning the sd card while it is in the phone is impossible.

However, all of these things are covered in the instructions, so I will review them when I get home to make sure I didn't miss something.