well im about to root and flash a rom to my incredible but im really nervous about the process...not sure i really understand the lingo enough...right now im torn between incredibly re engineered, skyraider4 and cyanogen mod stable.
So you've decided to say "hell with the warranty I'm rooting"...good for you and welcome to the club!!!!
First off, take a breath...it's just a phone. If you can read and follow directions you'll be fine. If you've read about making a Nandroid backup and have done so successfully your biggest problem/fear has been conquered as 99% of problems can be solved by reverting to your nandroid backup...if you can make and restore a backup, you can flash...the process is very similar, just be prepared to re-download all your apps and re-set up your phone every time you flash a new ROM. Titanium backup can be a big timesaver but it won't restore your settings like ringtones, screen time outs, stuff like that.
If your coming straight from stock 2.2, I think I'd recommend SkyRaider 4.0. Its the newest "sense" based ROM in your list and the "culture shock" won't be as bad. It may be a bit much to go from having no clue about rooting and flashing then going straight to Cyanogen Mod 7. I've been using Skyraider 4.0 for a few days now after having been away from using Sense for almost a month and I have to say this ROM is enjoyable and fast...all the benefits of Sense without Verizon's clutter and garbage to bog it down, plus it's based on the Sense 2.0 rather than HTC's 1.0 which is what the Inc runs currently.
most of my concerns fall to the kernel and radio mentions i have read about...are there extra steps for those or will they come in the zip file and be done automatically?
Most Rom's come with the custom kernel packaged up into the ROM itself so no need to sweat that. If you want to flash a new kernel its the same process as flashing a ROM, boot into recovery, wipe data (not the factory reset data, just data cache) go to advanced and wipe the dalvic, install from sd, choose zip from sd, install...it really is just that easy. Don't worry about the radio's for now...if your new to flashing messing with the radios is not something you should really be worried about. As far as I know, its really the only way to brick the phone, as in even trying to get back to your nandroid backup is hard...bottom line, unless you really know what your doing, just leave the radio alone. I haven't flashed a ROM yet where I had to mess with the radio and I've flashed alot of ROM's.
lastly, is the process for flashing a new rom the same everytime with the only change being what rom you pick?
Exactly the same process for every ROM. Occasionally you'll come across a ROM that makes you work for it like Warm Z 2.2 which requires certain Clockwork versions to work right and even then if you don't hold your tongue just right it doesn't flash properly but then you get to go dig deeper into the Android Central site and see just how much info there is out there and how many people are willing to help.
To wind up a long point, don't sweat it, unless you screw with the radios you really can't do any damage that can't be undone by restoring your nandroid backup, and flashing ROM's is by and large the same for every ROM which is why its so easy and fun.
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