Please recommend a ROM to me

**DaveNagy** · 09-11-2010, 06:27 PM

Hi all,

Do you know what comes before newbies? Me!

I'm hoping to pick up my Evo on Oct 1st, and only then will I graduate to full newbie status.

I have been reading the forums, however, so I'm only about 60% clueless at this point.

Bright and early on Oct 2nd, I will be jetting off to Hawaii. Some time in the preceding 13 hours, I'd like to have rooted my phone, and have flashed a custom ROM. You see, I "need" wireless tethering to work during my vacation, and I would welcome more speed and battery life as well. What I don't want are crashes and other things that will harsh my vacation mellow. I test software for a living. I'd prefer not to do it in Hawaii.

So, which ROM should I take with me? Here's my wish list:

I think I'd prefer to start with a Sense ROM. I'll wait til I get back before messing around with replacement launchers and the like.
It needs to be solid and non-crashy. A daily-driver class ROM. Less crashy than stock 2.2 would be nice.
I'd like the FPS cap to be removed. (Which I guess excludes the AC ROM, unless someone can recommend an alternate kernel to layer on top.)
More battery life would be nice, but not an absolute necessity. I'm taking three batteries and an external charger with me.
More performance would be nice, but again, not an absolute requirement. I won't be benchmarking at the beach.
I don't care if 4G, FM, and HDMI don't work, so if someone wants to talk me into CM, I'll listen.

**b0ricua** · 09-11-2010, 07:41 PM

BAKED SNACK 1.7!!!

-I think I'd prefer to start with a Sense ROM. I'll wait til I get back before messing around with replacement launchers and the like. Baked Snack has all of the Sense goodness (I can't give it up either)
-It needs to be solid and non-crashy. A daily-driver class ROM. Less crashy than stock 2.2 would be nice.I haven't received a crash once! Things run very smoothly with the kernel that comes with (Baked Kernel #6)
-I'd like the FPS cap to be removed. (Which I guess excludes the AC ROM, unless someone can recommend an alternate kernel to layer on top.)FPS cap is removed with baked kernel #6, so you get all the smooth scrolling you can ask for
-More battery life would be nice, but not an absolute necessity. I'm taking three batteries and an external charger with me. The battery with this ROM combo and kernel are superb, before loading this I couldn't geth through a full day with moderate to heavy usage, now let's say I don't have to worry about that anymore
-More performance would be nice, but again, not an absolute requirement. I won't be benchmarking at the beach. Quadrant scores and fps2d are very respectable. Quadrant isn't as nice as you'll get with a non-sense ROM, but great nonetheless
I don't care if 4G, FM, and HDMI don't work, so if someone wants to talk me into CM, I'll listen.All 3 work :P

**dante501** · 09-11-2010, 07:48 PM

keep the stosck and just add the netarchy-toastmod-4.1.9.1 kernel in it and then you have evrything working plus fps removed and overclocking or fresh rom you could try.

**Moshpit** · 09-11-2010, 07:48 PM

Dave, which island are you visiting?

For me, my personal choice (for Sense Roms) would be by netarchy. A close second would be .

**Robbie317** · 09-11-2010, 08:00 PM

Originally Posted by b0ricua

BAKED SNACK 1.7!!!

-I think I'd prefer to start with a Sense ROM. I'll wait til I get back before messing around with replacement launchers and the like. Baked Snack has all of the Sense goodness (I can't give it up either)
-It needs to be solid and non-crashy. A daily-driver class ROM. Less crashy than stock 2.2 would be nice.I haven't received a crash once! Things run very smoothly with the kernel that comes with (Baked Kernel #6)
-I'd like the FPS cap to be removed. (Which I guess excludes the AC ROM, unless someone can recommend an alternate kernel to layer on top.)FPS cap is removed with baked kernel #6, so you get all the smooth scrolling you can ask for
-More battery life would be nice, but not an absolute necessity. I'm taking three batteries and an external charger with me. The battery with this ROM combo and kernel are superb, before loading this I couldn't geth through a full day with moderate to heavy usage, now let's say I don't have to worry about that anymore
-More performance would be nice, but again, not an absolute requirement. I won't be benchmarking at the beach. Quadrant scores and fps2d are very respectable. Quadrant isn't as nice as you'll get with a non-sense ROM, but great nonetheless
I don't care if 4G, FM, and HDMI don't work, so if someone wants to talk me into CM, I'll listen.All 3 work :P

Second all this above.. I used Baked Snack 1.7 and with Kernal 6 I get amazing battery life and the phone seems to be running way faster and even my 3G and 4G speeds recorded are faster...

**dante501** · 09-11-2010, 08:19 PM

where can i get baked kernel 6? only avaialbe is 5

**caseydietz** · 09-11-2010, 08:29 PM

I would recommend Vaelpack 2.0, I had baked snack and just prefer this rom more,
I would flash the rom with the htc kernel then kings #9...
Just my 50 cent

**Robbie317** · 09-11-2010, 08:42 PM

Originally Posted by dante501

where can i get baked kernel 6? only avaialbe is 5

It comes with Baked Snack 1.7.....

Don't know if you can just download it on it's own... I see you can do 5 but not 6...

**blupit30** · 09-11-2010, 10:45 PM

i would recommend the finisher3volution rom. i am inlove with this. by far the best i have tried. everything works and battery life is 40hrs+ for me.

**DaveNagy** · 09-12-2010, 03:28 AM

Wow. So many great responses. Thank you.

b0ricua (and Robbie317), you present a compelling case for Baked Snack. (God, that sentence doesn't even sound weird to me any more. I gotta stop reading these forums!) I thought Snack probably should be on my short list, but I actually wasn't sure Sense was still included. The screen shots looked Sense-y to my untrained eye, but I couldn't find any place where someone came right out and confirmed that.

Dante501, your recommendation for a stock ROM coupled with a custom kernel also sounds appealing. Change as little as possible. Learn what stock 2.2 is like, so I have a better basis for comparison when I start sampling more exotic fare. (I do plan to try out several ROMs after I get back.)

Moshpit, I'll be on the Big Island. North of Kona. My wife and I were married there 14 years ago, and we like to get back as often as we can.

caseydietz, lots of people seem to like Vaelpack. The developer seems really... accommodating. It looks like that's a non-Sense ROM, however? I think I'd like to wait on that until I've had a chance to see if I like Sense or not.

I haven't heard of finisher3volution. I'll have to check that out. I assume there's a thread on XDA?

**Robbie317** · 09-12-2010, 08:39 AM

Originally Posted by DaveNagy

Wow. So many great responses. Thank you.

b0ricua (and Robbie317), you present a compelling case for Baked Snack. (God, that sentence doesn't even sound weird to me any more. I gotta stop reading these forums!) I thought Snack probably should be on my short list, but I actually wasn't sure Sense was still included. The screen shots looked Sense-y to my untrained eye, but I couldn't find any place where someone came right out and confirmed that.

Dante501, your recommendation for a stock ROM coupled with a custom kernel also sounds appealing. Change as little as possible. Learn what stock 2.2 is like, so I have a better basis for comparison when I start sampling more exotic fare. (I do plan to try out several ROMs after I get back.)

Moshpit, I'll be on the Big Island. North of Kona. My wife and I were married there 14 years ago, and we like to get back as often as we can.

caseydietz, lots of people seem to like Vaelpack. The developer seems really... accommodating. It looks like that's a non-Sense ROM, however? I think I'd like to wait on that until I've had a chance to see if I like Sense or not.

I haven't heard of finisher3volution. I'll have to check that out. I assume there's a thread on XDA?

So many things you can do.... I use Baked Snack 1.7 and I also have these theme's applied as well...

Plus this boot animation...

(not like I reboot very often)

I want to try CM6 but so far I really do like Baked Snack... It's been great and amazingly stable and with the Theme loaded and tweaked it's pretty sweet... I also love how it removes all the Sprint Bloat Ware....

Good Luck..

**b0ricua** · 09-12-2010, 11:02 AM

Baked Snack 1.7 is 100% Sense.. I of course added the Smooth-Sense theme which just fixes some Sense icons (battery percentage, adds animation to sync icon, etc.) you can check out the link in my signature.

**Robbie317** · 09-12-2010, 11:31 AM

Originally Posted by b0ricua

Baked Snack 1.7 is 100% Sense.. I of course added the Smooth-Sense theme which just fixes some Sense icons (battery percentage, adds animation to sync icon, etc.) you can check out the link in my signature.

I plan on trying smooth sense.. I clicked your link this am but there must be an issue with xda this morning as none of my xda links saved were working this morning. Wanted to check out another theme....

**b0ricua** · 09-12-2010, 11:41 AM

Originally Posted by Robbie317

I plan on trying smooth sense.. I clicked your link this am but there must be an issue with xda this morning as none of my xda links saved were working this morning. Wanted to check out another theme....

Yeah XDA is having some issues..try again later though! I absolutely love smooth sense...

Swyped from my Evo 4G

**EvoRoy** · 09-12-2010, 11:53 AM

I'm running Baked Snack but how do I know which one I am running and what kernel ?

**Robbie317** · 09-12-2010, 11:58 AM

Originally Posted by EvoRoy

I'm running Baked Snack but how do I know which one I am running and what kernel ?

Baked snack includes Kernal 6 with their ROM (if I am not mistaken)

You can then go back and flash what ever Kernal you want...

**eagle63** · 09-12-2010, 12:34 PM

Thanks to Dave for posting this thread, I'm in the same boat - I want a Sense ROM but with the FPS cap removed. Stability is the biggest factor though, as the stock 2.2 ROM (at least for me) is quite stable.

As for rooting, are you all using the unrevoked thing? Are their better/easier ways than unrevoked?

**Kevin O'Quinn** · 09-12-2010, 12:38 PM

Use this for rooting (assuming you took the 2.2 OTA):

http://forum.androidcentral.com/htc-...2-windows.html

And when you get to step 12 use simple root.

**b0ricua** · 09-12-2010, 12:40 PM

Originally Posted by minsc

Thanks to Dave for posting this thread, I'm in the same boat - I want a Sense ROM but with the FPS cap removed. Stability is the biggest factor though, as the stock 2.2 ROM (at least for me) is quite stable.

As for rooting, are you all using the unrevoked thing? Are their better/easier ways than unrevoked?

I personally did the downgrade to 2.1 and rooted with simpleroot. I also had to update my radio, wimax, and pri but I know I'm fully rooted with nand unlock and don't have to worry about not being able to flash certain ROMs

Swyped from my Evo 4G

**Slingbox** · 09-12-2010, 01:06 PM

Im currently running Fresh 3.2 with netarchy 4.1.8-cfs-bfq.
Very smooth ,Stable , Great batt life and Sense.

**eagle63** · 09-12-2010, 01:17 PM

Originally Posted by b0ricua

I personally did the downgrade to 2.1 and rooted with simpleroot. I also had to update my radio, wimax, and pri but I know I'm fully rooted with nand unlock and don't have to worry about not being able to flash certain ROMs

Swyped from my Evo 4G

So nand unlock is required for certain roms? I *assume* if I wait long enough unrevoked will provide this too?

One other question: So after you're rooted, you need to pick both a ROM as well as a kernel. Do most ROMs come with a recommended kernel, or are you pretty much on your own to go out and find one? I'm coming from the windows mobile world where the ROM and the kernel are not separate. (at least from the standpoint of end-user installation)

**mr.wizard** · 09-12-2010, 01:40 PM

Originally Posted by minsc

So nand unlock is required for certain roms? I *assume* if I wait long enough unrevoked will provide this too?

One other question: So after you're rooted, you need to pick both a ROM as well as a kernel. Do most ROMs come with a recommended kernel, or are you pretty much on your own to go out and find one? I'm coming from the windows mobile world where the ROM and the kernel are not separate. (at least from the standpoint of end-user installation)

Use simpleroot and you don't have to wait

You don't 'need' to have a rom. You can still use the stock rom. However, a kernal of some sort is included in every rom. But, stock htc is capped so I would vote for a non stock kernal. Just make sure to check if the kernal you want will work with the rom you want

**Robbie317** · 09-12-2010, 01:40 PM

Originally Posted by minsc

So nand unlock is required for certain roms? I *assume* if I wait long enough unrevoked will provide this too?

One other question: So after you're rooted, you need to pick both a ROM as well as a kernel. Do most ROMs come with a recommended kernel, or are you pretty much on your own to go out and find one? I'm coming from the windows mobile world where the ROM and the kernel are not separate. (at least from the standpoint of end-user installation)

Baked Snack includes the Kernal but you can then go and flash different Kernals if needed... I think most ROMs don't include the Kernal but most ROMs have a list of Kernals on the XDA site to choose from. Again I think if you install a ROM your just going to be using the stock Kernal unless the ROM builder says other wise.

I used unrevoked to root and I couldn't install CM6 so I was told to go back and rerun Simple Root instead... But so far I am happy with Baked Snack.. When I decide to go with another ROM and need to I will run Simple Root...

**eagle63** · 09-12-2010, 01:50 PM

@mr.wizard, @robbie

Thanks guys, makes sense I think. So could I actually install ONLY a kernel (thereby keeping my stock rom)? Or do I need to do both? Sounds like Baked Snack might be a pretty good option for me, especially since I don't need to roll back to 2.1 and do simple root. Someday I'll be ready to try CM6, but I'm not there yet. (baby steps!)

**b0ricua** · 09-12-2010, 02:36 PM

Originally Posted by Robbie317

I think most ROMs don't include the Kernal but most ROMs have a list of Kernals on the XDA site to choose from. Again I think if you install a ROM your just going to be using the stock Kernal unless the ROM builder says other wise.

Incorrect. All ROMs will include a Kernel and that isn't necessarily the stock HTC one. Usually the OP of the ROM will tell you which kernel is included...they can include custom kernels to be included in these ROMs for example

Baked Snack 1.7 = baked kernel #6

VaelPak 2.0 = Vaelek included a Kings #8 version..

Hope that clears up some confusion.