Newbie needs some help please

[addictedtocars]

OK I have been reading all the stckies here and on XDA and reading all the posts I can andI dare not ask this on XDA for fear of the spanking, but I am a little confused. I am grasping the basics of rooting, and altered ROMs and such. I do not want to jump on Alter Beast just yet, I want to let it mature and see what other ROMs come out. Seeing as this is my first smartphone I am not that unhappy with much, I do want to remove a lot of the bloatware, but I want the option of going back to TW if I want. I am gusing Go Launcher and really liking it. I see this post on XDA

[ROM][STOCK][CWM] Stock Deodexed ROMs - xda-developers

and downloaded the ZIP file just deodexed and zip aligned but still stock. I'd liek to try that for a bit, then root then use titanium backup to delete the bloat I choose to remove. I look at ODIN, but that requires and tar and md5 version. I thought I could dump this zuip in the root of the sdcard and call it update.zip and boot into the phones recovery mode, but it complains that the update.zip is not correct. I see CWM mentioned, but I do not anything that shows where to get just that to load, everything has it bundled in with some cusotm ROM and/or kernel. What am I missing?

Thanks so much in advance!

 

[Raptor007]

I will see if I can help you with your questions. Like most noobs you don't want to dive in head first but you do want to get some benefits until you are ready, that's cool.

There are a lot of threads over at XDA-Developers (and here as well) that can guide you and yes sometimes XDA is not for the faint of heart. Still you can always ask questions and learn (I did it that way).

One of the key differences I learned about the Charge is Samsung puts the bloatware into the system folder and not in the data folder. So when you ditch the bloatware you won't gain any of the internal app storage space like you would on say the HTC ThunderBolt or Droid X, etc. Samsung has set the system data folder limit to 350MB so no ROM can exceed that footprint and still fit.

So if you decide to debloat, you can simply freeze the apps using Titanium BackUp and they will be gone from view (safer than deleting them in your case). Now EE4 does have some great enhancements and if you like stock you can go that route.

As for Odin, that is a flashing tool and you would flash CWM (Clock Work Mod Recovery, aka CWR ) and of course the Rooted Stock ED1 downgrade from ED2, I cannot say if you can or cannot downgrade from EE4 yet to ED1 that is something we need to hear from the devs who likely know more than I.

When you mention you thought you could dump the zip file, I presume you are talking about the EE4 updated ROM? If so and if you are on ED1 or ED2 you can but you need CWM. Now imnuts is working on and is pretty close to updating his CWM but you can get by with the original one he posted here [ROOT] [KERNEL] [RECOVERY] - Root / Voodoo Lagfix / CWM Recovery - xda-developers you will know if its the one I posted if its red.

You will copy the ROM file you want to your sdcard and you do not need to change the name instead you will power off the Charge, press the vol. up, home and power buttons until "SAMSUNG" appears then release the power button and you will boot into CWM. From there you will navigate to "Install Zip from sdcard". Select the file and update.

I hope this helps, now I will say I am not sure if the EE4 Deodexed ROM includes the new Radio upgrade or not, so you still may need to flash the Radio file in Odin when kejar31 posts it in his GummyCHARGED thread.

 

[yyhd]

we can spank you here too

You can use Titanium to freeze TouchWiz. You aren't uninstalling/removing it. You can unfreeze it whenever you want.

As for removing bloat and deodexing, you need more than just flashing that file, i believe.

Raptor007's got your back though. Im tired now, cant type well. lol

 

[addictedtocars]

we can spank you here too

You can use Titanium to freeze TouchWiz. You aren't uninstalling/removing it. You can unfreeze it whenever you want.

As for removing bloat and deodexing, you need more than just flashing that file, i believe.

Raptor007's got your back though. Im tired now, cant type well. lol

Thanks, but Titanium needs root which I don't have yet, I am on ED2 eagerly awaiting EE4.