Root Overwhelmed by choices

[Alaya]

I rooted my HTC Desire CDMA last night, and now I'm overwhelmed by choices. I'm really trying to understand all of this, but its a lot of information all at once (plus my brain is fried, I have been going full blast at two masters degrees for a bit now).

I don't have a data plan on my phone, so I am reliant with WiFi at home. I'm just fine with that and don't really desire anything more.

The problem is that no matter how much I try to manage my apps with app 2 sd I never have enough room on this phone, hence why I rooted.

I still have S-On but unlocked due to my HBOOT being version 1.09.0000 and not being able to do S-Off with it.

I am rooted with Superuser.

Today I have run a titanium backup and plan to run a nandroid. Where are these backups, how do I protect them when I do stuff?

I need more room on this phone. I assume that means I need a new ROM. I just want something really simple and basic and small. KISS essentially. I can handle flashing, but I am completely overwhelmed by the choices of ROM.

What is the simplest, smallest ROM out there that does a good job at being a basic phone that handles lots of texting and some games?

 

[nicka3200]

Can't advise on which CDMA ROM as I have a gsm phone. However if you want more memory without being S-Off you will need to look for one which supports an ext partition on your SD (apps2sd+) . Note that when you partition the card will probably be formatted in the process so back it all up to your pc. The reason I mention that is because your Nandroid & Titanium back ups are on your SD.

Without s-off you can't change the size of internal phone partitions so a smaller Rom isn't going to gain you any more space without apps2sd+.

I hope that helps a little.

 

[Hadron]

The All Things Root Guide sticky post does have a link to a list of ROMs at xda-developers. Most are for GSM, but there is a section in that list for CDMA ROMs.

Read the root memory faq, linked in that same sticky post. It will explain the "a2sd+" option - basically you put a linux-formatted partition on your sd card (ext3 or ext4 format), then a script is installed that moves a large part of your apps (apks and dalvik cache) to the partition. To the phone they appear to still be in internal memory, but you'll find that you can install a lot more before you run out of space.

The nandroid backup will be in a folder on your sd card - look for folders called 4Ext or clockworkmod, depending on what recovery you use (I used to use clockwork, now use 4Ext, and 4Ext still keeps my backups in clockworkmod/backup). Titanium will also backup to its own folder on the card.

There is a lot to take in in one go, so take your time, read up and understand before doing stuff, and if you are at all unsure just ask.

 

[Alaya]

Thanks. One step at a time.

I read through the App2SD+ and it makes sense. I definitely need a rom that can do that.

I have been looking at http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=809328 but I'm finding it super difficult to figure out which one works for me. I don't want anything fancy, just a basic ROM that does the job, but I have no idea what I'm looking at.

For example - can my phone run http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1850436 even though I don't have Jelly Bean? Is that for GSM or CDMA? Is it a simple, small ROM, or a complicated large ROM?

 

[Hadron]

I'd suggest the safest starting point is one of the CDMA ROMs - I think they are listed in the third post in the thread. There are some ROMs that claim to work with both GSM and CDMA (the ones I looked at seemed to require flashing some extra patch for CDMA), but the few people here who tried them didn't have much success. Of course there could be others who did and just didn't say anything - we are more likely to hear when things don't work than when they do .

The ROM you link is based on Jelly Bean, so if you were able to install it you would be running Jelly Bean. It will be larger and more complicated than an AOSP (Android Open Source Project) Gingerbread ROM, but probably smaller than one of these ROMs where people port the Sensation ROM into the Desire. However, I can't see anything in the first few posts of that thread to suggest it works with CDMA, and searching the thread it seems that it does not.

The sad truth is, the CDMA and GSM Desires are 2 different phones which have the same bodywork and name. There were many more GSM Desires sold than CDMA, and most developers had/have GSM phones. Therefore if a ROM does not mention CDMA, most likely it only works on GSM Desires. This is why I suggest that one of those explicitly labelled as CDMA might be the best starting point.

The most important thing is to take a backup from recovery before modifying anything else. That way you can always go back to that backup if something doesn't work. And make sure you fully back up your SD card before you try partitioning it, as that process is likely to wipe the card (and don't use Minitool Partition Wizard to partition the card!).

 

[Alaya]

I found 2FastRoms which seems to be a more complete list of actually CDMA ROMs (the thread here doesn't seem have any current CDMA ROMS other than SleekSense to my inexperienced eye).

It seems like most CDMA users are using Miui but I can't figure out which one of the options would work for me. SleekSense seems like the easiest for now, the threads on it report that it is pretty stable and it does exactly what I want - give me more room without being too complicated. It is a sensation port but I don't seem to have too many other options. Maybe I'll figure out Miui eventually.

I know that the Desire CDMA is a really kinda odd, outdated phone. I was given it for free because its useless to my carrier anymore (they have switched most of their customers over to GSM) and the manager felt bad for me because my last phone was stolen, and then the company screwed me over for 6 months continuing to charge me data even though I canceled and tried to get it refunded every month. I'm on a lifeline plan, so I can't normally get any type of smart phone. I can't complain about being given an outdated odd one for free.

 

[nicka3200]

As I said in a previous post I have a gsm desire therefore have no experience of CDMA ROMs. I did use the gsm version of oxygen for most of this year which was an excellent, fast, stable ROM with very good battery life. It is AOSP so doesn't have as many features as sense ROMs.

 

[Hadron]

Give it a spin - take a nandroid first, and if you don't like the ROM, restore the nandroid and you've back where you started.

If it's a Sensation port you will need an ext partition on your card to run the ROM, as it will be too large for the phone's storage - I'd suggest about 1GB for the partition size.

TBH I'm not sure that "current" is too important for ROMs - the one I'm using hasn't been updated since January, and is just fine.

 

[nicka3200]

TBH I'm not sure that "current" is too important for ROMs - the one I'm using hasn't been updated since January, and is just fine.

To be fair Hadron, that makes it about the most current AOSP gingerbread ROM for the desire. Most since then have just been themed versions of earlier ones.

 

[Alaya]

Um, it didn't work....

Following the directions here my phone is now hung on the HTC screen. I tried repeating the wipe data/factory reset and then tried to flash again with the sleeksense 1.0 zip again. Same thing.

Now I have no idea what to do.

By current I mean a file is present. This ROM is from March 2011.

 

[Alaya]

I restored with my nandroid. I guess its time to find another ROM. There really don't seem to be any options.

 

[nicka3200]

Do you have an ext partition on your SD? It says at the top of the page you need one for that ROM. There isn't enough space on the system partition of the phone for a large Rom like that. It needs to overflow onto the SD partition.

Have a read of the memory faq in the rooting guide. You will need a partition to gain additional space for apps with your hboot in any case no matter which Rom you choose.

 

[Alaya]

Yes, I made partitions according to the directions here in step two.

 

[Alaya]

I do have version 5.0.2.0 of ClockworkMod rather than 3 like the directions say. That is really the only difference.

 

[Hadron]

Partitioning with ClockworkMod should work. It's not the best (may give misaligned partitions, which would reduce write speed) but better than Minitool. So I doubt that's the problem, unless you see problems with other ROMs too.

I'd suggest trying a different ROM and seeing how you get on. Unfortunately I don't know this ROM at all (no CDMA handsets in Europe), so can't say much more about it.

 

[Alaya]

I'm having a really hard time finding a download of a ROM for CDMA that is not in beta or have a long list of known problems that I don't want to deal with. Either the links to files are just missing, or they go to dead ends. SleekSense is so far the only file I've been able to find and download.

 

[nicka3200]

Personally I would describe all of the Desire gsm custom ROMs as beta. I don't think very many of them are ready to sell to the customer but most the are perfectly ok for every day use. For instance the ROM that Hadron & I both use has a check box which is left over from a previous version. It's left over from a feature that was removed from a previous version. However its probably the best minimalist ROM available & that little check box doesn't matter.

My advice is to try a few different ones. Take a full back up from recovery first so its very easy to go back.

 

[Alaya]

My advice is to try a few different ones. Take a full back up from recovery first so its very easy to go back.

I would love to try a few different ones, if I could find a file to download. Literally, the links lead to 404 or are just missing. I can't find anything else to try for CDMA that has a file there. The only one I can has a huge list of known problems that would make it unusable for me.

 

[Alaya]

Success! I found a great list of CDMA ROMS. I have Oxygen running now. Its no longer supported, which is why all the other links I found for lead to nothing, but that forum had download of it saved. Now I just have to figure out how to use titanim backup to get all of my stuff back. I'm not too stressed out about that part. I just hope I don't have the space issues anymore.

 

[Alaya]

Now I'm beginning to feel like I'm just stupid.

I have oxygen, it runs beautifully. Other than it doesn't have google play. The market app just leads to google play's website. The website says I don't have any devices linked to my account so I can't download any apps. I can't figure anything out from my computer or my phone about how I can download apps. I did download amazon's app store, but it doesn't have the apps I need like titanium backup and the games I have been playing.

I know I'm probably just missing some stupid noob thing, but I can't figure it out.

 

[Alaya]

The market app is taking me to the terms of service for google play. There is no where to click accept, or ok, or anything. If I click the google play logo at the top it just takes me to the website, not the google play app.

I'm ready to throw in the towel and have my old, dumb phone hooked back up to my account. Its not worth all this additional stress to just have a fancy device to have in my pocket. It has never met my needs from day one, it isn't now with the days of work I've put into it. An old dumb phone can make phone calls and do texts.

 

[Alaya]

This time it decided to randomly work, and upgrade from market to play. This makes no sense at all, I didn't do anything differently.

Frustration level - Max. I am not even concerned that it is all working now.

 

[Hadron]

I don't know why the Market app wasn't working, but it updates automatically, including (on most ROMs) the update from Market to Play Store. So leaving it on and connected to the network for a while is all you had to do.

Hopefully there will be no more glitches.

 

[spile]

What worked for me on my rooted Desire (using CM7) was
Partitioning SD card to EX2
Install S2e app
Now have unlimited space for apps!

 

[Hadron]

These days you'd not use ext2 though - ext3 or ext4 would be better. And the ROM Alaya has includes an a2sd script already, so should give the same space as CM7 + Simple2Ext