Ok, should I go the ROM route?

[dead78]

You will need to download the Samsung drivers and install them on your PC which should be provided in whichever rooting thread your using.

I was using this thread for clockwork, and there's no mention of drivers

[MOD][One Click Root]ClockworkMod 3.1.0.1[RFS & EXT4] - xda-developers

 

[dead78]

Ok, so I bit the bullet and decided to give this a shot. I'm happy to report that thanks to the help received here (and qbking77's youtube vids) I was able to root with Clockwork and flash to Syndicate 1.2 (and Genocide) with no issues at all. Paul recommended an excellent backup app than enabled me to copy and replace every single thing I had on the Epic prior to wiping it for the Syndicate install. Thank you, guys!

For what it's worth, I actually had a far easier time rooting by using my MacBook than my WinXP machine - didn't have to install any drivers at all on the Mac while my Windows box kept giving my weird errors whenever I plugged my Epic into it.

Now, it'll just be a question of working through the kinks of a new environment. Any tips you've got for tweaking this thing to maximum effect will be most appreciated.

 

[Paul627g]

Ok, so I bit the bullet and decided to give this a shot. I'm happy to report that thanks to the help received here (and qbking77's youtube vids) I was able to root with Clockwork and flash to Syndicate 1.2 (and Genocide) with no issues at all. Paul recommended an excellent backup app than enabled me to copy and replace every single thing I had on the Epic prior to wiping it for the Syndicate install. Thank you, guys!

For what it's worth, I actually had a far easier time rooting by using my MacBook than my WinXP machine - didn't have to install any drivers at all on the Mac while my Windows box kept giving my weird errors whenever I plugged my Epic into it.

Now, it'll just be a question of working through the kinks of a new environment. Any tips you've got for tweaking this thing to maximum effect will be most appreciated.

Mac doesn't require you to install any drivers from what I understand. PC does require you to install device drivers. Sounds like you got it worked out

As far as tips, usually the stock kernel settings (untouched) is your best option. You will learn in quick time if your phone requires any little tweaks to the kernel to function properly. SRF is a great ROM and should treat you well.. Don't be afraid to go test driving once you get the feel for things, there's a lot to explore

 

[xalky]

Im happy to hear that it worked out for you. Now you can go on the market and get some pretty cool apps for rooted phones.

That wasn't so bad....but it does seem daunting at first if you've never done it.

Voltage control is the app they recommend to tweak the genocide kernel. If you haven't installed that yet, that might be your next move.read up on it.

Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk

 

[dead78]

thanks, man. it looks as if Voltage Control is actually installed with Syndicate Frozen, I haven't tinkered with it yet but it's definitely there.

just a little update: I'm down to 56% battery after 9.5 hours of very moderate use. can't say I've noticed any real improvement in battery life or signal strength yet. if anything, signal strength for both Sprint and WiFi seems a bit worse.

 

[xalky]

Battery usage is difficult to judge when you first change things because we're on our phones tweaking settings and such.give it a few days after the newness wears off.


Voltage control helps to extend battery life
by undervolting the different operating frequencies of the processor. Cpu spy is a great app to help you figure out where the cpu is spending most of its time.

Screen brightness is a big battery sucker.there are some great screen dimmers available in the market to help tame the brightness in low light settings that'll help tremendously with savings.

Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk

 

[dead78]

Ok, I will definitely look into it.

Right now, what's bugging me the most is that the memo app wasn't included with Syndicate. The problem is that I ran backups with both MyBackup Root and CWM and assumed that my memos would migrate over. Now the app is gone and I actually need a piece of information that was in one of my memos. Is there anything I can do about this?

 

[bigtimeweb]

also, and please forgive this question, will I lose all contacts, calendar entries and existing apps?

do a one click root

download and install mybackup root (I also use titanium pro and fully backup to dropbox)

backup all data and apps (I use titanium pro for apps and mybackup for data. Mybackup is particularly useful for me on my calendar and contacts)

boot into clockwork mod do a full backup (now you can always restore back to your starting point should something go bad)

wipe data / cache 3 times

Flash your new rom/kernel from clockwork mod

reboot phone

reinstall mybackup root / titanium pro

restore apps and data (again I use a batch restore of apps from titanium and data from mybackup root)

done!

If you don't like the rom/kernel you can just wipe data again and flash something else and restore data again.

 

[dead78]

do a one click root

hey! thanks for the response.

if you'll notice my message about 6 posts up from this one, I actually already rooted and flashed my phone to Syndicate over the weekend. I appreciate the advice, though.

 

[xalky]

Ok, I will definitely look into it.

Right now, what's bugging me the most is that the memo app wasn't included with Syndicate. The problem is that I ran backups with both MyBackup Root and CWM and assumed that my memos would migrate over. Now the app is gone and I actually need a piece of information that was in one of my memos. Is there anything I can do about this?

Well, the data for the app more than likely got backed up. The trick is gonna be to find it. You're gonna need a file explorer app. Now that your rooted you can explore all those data files. You might wanna strt a new thread in the general Epic section , maybe someone will know where to look. From there its probably as simple as opening it with a text editor. You might even be able to connect the phone to the laptop and explore the sd card from there.


Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk

 

[StoneRyno]

In addition to SFR 1.2 and mybackup root and titanium backup root I use the following utilities to get the most and best out of my epic:

Android Assistant (dev Aaron) general information tool and utility package.

---------- I use it to on rare occasion to kill a task but I'm finding I don't need it for as much as I did possibly due to builtin improvements or the other apps listed. The info features may be useful though I find I rarely use them as well and may even at one point uninstall if I need the space.

AutoKiller Memory Optimsizer (AndRS Studio) not a task killer or manager contrary to the apps name.

---------- It has a feature to set values related to memory optimization or something like that which is built into the OS. Has quite a few presets for easy messing around with and see what works best. And includes running processes and services info. Galaxy Tuner which was installed with SFR 1.2 appears to duplicate the value changing options this app does minus the presets. That being the case I switch to letting it set those values and uninstall this since I don't think I use the processes and services info part of the app.

Autorun Manager (AndRS Studio) stop apps that auto run and/or run at start up

---------- Where this app is useful is not so much the stopping things from starting at boot but for its feature that stops things that start up due to receivers (triggered by an event of some sort). For example read it later keeps starting up some sort of process every time a data connection wifi or carrier is connected. I have no need for useless background tasks or services I don't use to be running. So I used it to keep it and a couple other things like that from starting up due to triggered events like that. Note to manage more than a couple triggers like that requires the paid version.

Note I use the Ultimate preset with the memory feature in AutoKiller. That change appears to do most in keeping my device snappy by keeping the memory free of being clogged with not required or desired stuff running. And which is why I only use the other two apps for a specific feature not found, at least as far as I'm aware, in any other app or built in thing.

 

[dead78]

Thanks for the reccs.

At present, the two things I find myself needing most are a memos app and a task manager. I actually miss the stock task manager available as a widget since it'll actually tell you the number of application running without having to open it. The task manager app bundled with SRF 1.2 is pretty week.

If anyone has recommendations for the above two areas, please share them.

 

[Paul627g]

Thanks for the reccs.

At present, the two things I find myself needing most are a memos app and a task manager. I actually miss the stock task manager available as a widget since it'll actually tell you the number of application running without having to open it. The task manager app bundled with SRF 1.2 is pretty week.

If anyone has recommendations for the above two areas, please share them.

Stock Memo.apk (place on sdcard and click on it to install using My Files or any file explorer utility)

 

[Kikoshi]

Stock Memo.apk (place on sdcard and click on it to install using My Files or any file explorer utility)

heya paul thank you for this! and also for the bonsai rom you're running, do you recommend using Journalin? or no?

 

[dead78]

Stock Memo.apk (place on sdcard and click on it to install using My Files or any file explorer utility)

Thank you, Paul. Just wanted to let you know that I tried installing that using multiple file managers and it fails every time. :-(

Here's a little issue that's cropped up since I decided to flash to Twilight Zone 1.1.1 a few days ago. I notice now that when the battery fully charges, it doesn't hit 100%, it stops anywhere from 96-98. I went through the entire battery calibration process outlined by qbking in his video (YouTube - ‪How to calibrate the battery on the Samsung Epic 4G‬‏) and after I had drained down the battery completely and recharged it fully, the indicator showed 100%. Last night, after running the battery down about 11%, I plugged the Epic into the charger and went to bed. When I woke up this morning, the battery light was blue but the indicator showed only 96%. I unplugged the charged and plugged it back in, waited for the light to turn blue and the indicator showed 98%. In the last few minutes that number has dropped to 97 without me having even unplugged the phone. Does anybody know what could be up? While I used Genocide 1.1 for the previous week, my battery always showed 100% when finished and remained that way until I unplugged the phone.

 

[Paul627g]

heya paul thank you for this! and also for the bonsai rom you're running, do you recommend using Journalin? or no?

Whats going on my friend? Your welcome on the stock apk.

Journaling, I use the journaling on/off zip provided by chris41g.

[MOD] ReEnable/Disable Journaling CWM Flashable No Format or Wipe Needed Instant

I turn it on just for that extra protection. I did run Bonsai without journaling and even when I did have to do a battery pull it recovered perfectly without data corruption! I don't know what Randy and Mammon did but they got the data corruption worries down to a bare minimum.

Thank you, Paul. Just wanted to let you know that I tried installing that using multiple file managers and it fails every time. :-(

Here's a little issue that's cropped up since I decided to flash to Twilight Zone 1.1.1 a few days ago. I notice now that when the battery fully charges, it doesn't hit 100%, it stops anywhere from 96-98. I went through the entire battery calibration process outlined by qbking in his video (YouTube - ‪How to calibrate the battery on the Samsung Epic 4G‬‏) and after I had drained down the battery completely and recharged it fully, the indicator showed 100%. Last night, after running the battery down about 11%, I plugged the Epic into the charger and went to bed. When I woke up this morning, the battery light was blue but the indicator showed only 96%. I unplugged the charged and plugged it back in, waited for the light to turn blue and the indicator showed 98%. In the last few minutes that number has dropped to 97 without me having even unplugged the phone. Does anybody know what could be up? While I used Genocide 1.1 for the previous week, my battery always showed 100% when finished and remained that way until I unplugged the phone.

Sorry to hear that didn't work as it should of... Anyways here is a flashable zip. Try that.

Restore Memo [EC05] (Flash in CWM, no wipe)

As far as the battery charging display percentage issues your having this has gone on since day one. Sometimes you get a true 100 % charge/reading but most of the time you get that 95,96,97%... You can bump charge (charge up to full then unplug and charge again) or calibrate but it still doesn't really matter. Just a bug that exists.

 

[dead78]

.
Sorry to hear that didn't work as it should of... Anyways here is a flashable zip. Try that.

Restore Memo [EC05] (Flash in CWM, no wipe)

As far as the battery charging display percentage issues your having this has gone on since day one. Sometimes you get a true 100 % charge/reading but most of the time you get that 95,96,97%... You can bump charge (charge up to full then unplug and charge again) or calibrate but it still doesn't really matter. Just a bug that exists.

going to give the flashable zip a shot now.

thanks for the explanation on the battery issue. for what it's worth, today has been my first full day with Twilight Zone 1.1.1 in my town - I had it installed yesterday but spent the entire day in New York City where signal strength is substantially better. The phone has been unplugged for just under 5 hours. And with maybe 20 total minutes of web use, I'm down to 82% battery. Also, I kept getting knocked down to 1X data and had very poor connectivity.

 

[arhoolie]

I've been following this thread with great interest; rereading it several times, watching qbking77 videos, etc. Here's my situation: I'm running stock Froyo/EC05. I'm rooted and have CWM Purple installed, plus Titanium Backup Pro and Bloat Freezer installed. All of which seem to work fine.

Here's my issue for wanting to try a different ROM: stability. My phone crashes at least once a day, may be more. And at some inopportune times. What I want most is stability, improved battery life is always a plus, but I currently get about a day from each fully charged battery, so I can live with that.

I have ODIN 1.3 installed on my desktop (Windows XP, sp3), and have downloaded the SFR 1.2 zip file from one of the download sites. I also have SPH-D700-EC05 tar file to fall back on if need be. I've backed my files using Titanium and also using the backup menu pick within CWM.

As I understand things (obviously, I'm new to flashing ROMs, etc.) what I need to do know is copy the SFR zipfile to SD card and use CWM to flash it after wiping data 3 times. After that, restore data using the restore function in CWM? Or do I want to reinstall Titanium Backup and use that. I'm a bit confused on the differences between the two and what each of them actually backs up. Or do the essentially do the same thing?

I think I understand what I need to do next but is there anything I'm missing? I find qbking77's videos a bit confusing as he does whip through things pretty quickly and I think they may be a bit out of date, ie. he mentions the Genocide kernel whereas the SFR 1.2 zipfile apparently uses a Twilight Zone kernel, correct? This is the one I've been viewing: YouTube - ‪How to flash SyndicateRom Frozen 1.2 on the Samsung Epic 4G‬‏

Thanks for any advice.

 

[Paul627g]

I've been following this thread with great interest; rereading it several times, watching qbking77 videos, etc. Here's my situation: I'm running stock Froyo/EC05. I'm rooted and have CWM Purple installed, plus Titanium Backup Pro and Bloat Freezer installed. All of which seem to work fine.

Here's my issue for wanting to try a different ROM: stability. My phone crashes at least once a day, may be more. And at some inopportune times. What I want most is stability, improved battery life is always a plus, but I currently get about a day from each fully charged battery, so I can live with that.

I have ODIN 1.3 installed on my desktop (Windows XP, sp3), and have downloaded the SFR 1.2 zip file from one of the download sites. I also have SPH-D700-EC05 tar file to fall back on if need be. I've backed my files using Titanium and also using the backup menu pick within CWM.

As I understand things (obviously, I'm new to flashing ROMs, etc.) what I need to do know is copy the SFR zipfile to SD card and use CWM to flash it after wiping data 3 times. After that, restore data using the restore function in CWM? Or do I want to reinstall Titanium Backup and use that. I'm a bit confused on the differences between the two and what each of them actually backs up. Or do the essentially do the same thing?

I think I understand what I need to do next but is there anything I'm missing? I find qbking77's videos a bit confusing as he does whip through things pretty quickly and I think they may be a bit out of date, ie. he mentions the Genocide kernel whereas the SFR 1.2 zipfile apparently uses a Twilight Zone kernel, correct? This is the one I've been viewing: YouTube - ‪How to flash SyndicateRom Frozen 1.2 on the Samsung Epic 4G‬‏

Thanks for any advice.

Yes you would take any ROM that you want, place it on your sdcard and then boot into CWM. First wipe data/cache partition/dalvik cache X 3. Then install zip from sdcard (flash the rom).

Afterwards you can use Titanium to restore your data to your applications. Using CWM's Nandroid Backup to restore DATA only is not always the best option, I would only recommend using the Nandroid Backup to restore a FULL backup.

Hope this helps, any questions just ask...

 

[arhoolie]

Yes you would take any ROM that you want, place it on your sdcard and then boot into CWM. First wipe data/cache partition/dalvik cache X 3. Then install zip from sdcard (flash the rom).

Afterwards you can use Titanium to restore your data to your applications. Using CWM's Nandroid Backup to restore DATA only is not always the best option, I would only recommend using the Nandroid Backup to restore a FULL backup.

Hope this helps, any questions just ask...

Thanks, Paul627g. From what I can gather it sounds like I'll still need to flash a kernel after flashing the ROM, correct? I've downloaded the sfr-1.2-final.zip and Genocide1.1_final.zip files.