Ok, on with the NOOB!
I'm ready to get educated on Android homebrew but I'm just not familiar with the terminology and the purpose of different things. I like many, are coming from the Pre and loved all that homebrew had to offer.
My first insights.
I appears that the Android Market is really open and pretty much negates the need for a "Preware" app. (side loading app market)
Rooting is liken to jailbreak / developer mode and simply allows you permission to change the things you want to change.
This is where I start to get confused.
On the Pre, after Installing Preware / using WebOS quick install, it opened the floodgates to modify anything the API's had access too. Either in the form of a patch or an app.
On Android it appears that some of this happens in app form but most of it is pre packaged into ROMS that replace everthing, but only change certain features.
What I want at this point
I would like to be able to remove sprint apps, use / install any side loading apps i might want.
I also saw something to do with a ROM or a patch that modified the Radios to get better reception.
What do I need to read up to make this stuff happen?
When talking about "Bricking" in pre world, it was nearly impossible. WebOS Doctor could fix almost anything. Is there an Android version / method to this?
Don't really need answers to all my questions in this thread, maybe just a link.
I'm new too, but I'll answer what I can, and hopefully someone else will fill in more.
Rooting is a pretty accurate name for Android. Android is Linux based, and mostly open source. The exception is that the ROM actually on most (or all) shipping phones has non open source bits, often things like hardware drivers. This is even the case with most desktop linux distributions like Ubuntu.
Root is the administrator in a Unix environment. By default Windows users are (or used to be) administrators, but you could add limited accounts for kids, etc. This is different in the *nix (Mac OS, Linux, BSD, Solaris, etc) world, where one almost always uses a normal account for day to day use, and only uses a root account as needed (or generally never with Mac OS or Android). The non-administrator/root typically can execute applications, but not install applications or write to any part of the system drive outside of their home folder, including system files or other users.
With Android (and Mac OS X) the non-root user has a lot more power than a normal Unix non-root user. They can do things like install applications. But access to the system folders is still restricted. So by default there are a lot of things you can't do on Android without root access.
The Marketplace is pretty darn open, certainly compared to Apple's app store. I have read sparse reports of things being rejected, but I don't think they go through an approval process before going in the store. However since it is very easy for the devices to "sideload" some developers don't get their stuff into the market, or don't get the newest versions into the market.
To sideload (on 2.1) go to Settings->Applications, and check "Unknown sources." Now any apk that is compatible with your phone can be downloaded to the phone (they will be saved on the SD card) and using something like Astro file manager (or I think your browsers downloads menu) you can run the file, and it will let you install it. I'm not sure if that checkbox also opens up some other apps on the market or not. (This is one of the biggest problems with the Motorola Backflip on AT&T, they don't allow that unknown sources checkbox)
Now here is where things get a little bit less clear to me. Root for the EVO currently does not allow you to write to the system while the phone is running. It lets you run applications that require super user access (like wifi tether) but it will not allow you to change system files. I think most or all previous Android roots allow that. However when the phone is in recovery mode you can flash the ENTIRE SYSTEM.
This means at this point the only way to modify system files is to hack a ROM, and flash the whole thing.
I may be a bit confused on this part, but I think this is the answer to your question.
Additionally the bootloader is another issue. I assume that toast's root unlocks the bootloader, otherwise we wouldn't be able to flash the ROM, but I know with other phones (N1 for example) rooting the phone and unlocking the bootloader were two different things.
I have no idea about the WebOS doctor question, but I certainly have not seen anything like that, it sounds nice. I think most of the HTC devices are open enough that you typically have a way out, but it is only the impression of someone that has only been looking into Android seriously for a couple of weeks.
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