Test Kernels From Adrynalyne (updated 1/21)

[NOsquid]

So far, I've stayed away from Voodoo kernels, but with one required for Kaos's 2.2 ROM, I'm tempted to give one a try. Can anyone offer a quick primmer on the Do's and Don'ts of using a Voodoo kernel?

As far as I'm aware, once you've flashed one and converted your file system to EXT4, you do NOT want to flash a non-Voodoo kernel unless you've disabled Voodoo and converted back to RFS. Right?

Anything else? Can you flash new Voodoo kernels over an existing one without converting back to RFS, or is it always safest to convert back before flashing.

What about ROMs, do you need to do anything special with the ROM before or after flashing a Voodoo kernel? Once Voodoo is installed and everything is converted to EXT4, is it OK to flash ROMs back and forth? What about wiping data and caches? Should this only be done in the red Clockwork interface, or can this be done in the standard blue recovery too?

Maybe there should be a sticky with these answers, because I have a feeling a lot of people are going to be trying Kaos's 2.2, and if it requires Voodoo, there's the potential for a lot of problems if people don't know what not to do as far as Voodoo goes...

Oh, and thanks for all your work on these Adrynalyne!

1. Never, ever flash no-voodoo kernel over voodoo

2. Flash voodoo over voodoo as much as you want

3. ROMs are fine to flash over voodoo, wipe data/cache is a good idea like with any ROM install though maybe not totally necessary with TW based ROMs. Definitely for AOSP

4. Use red CWM for everything. Blue doesn't exist anymore after you flash, green is only accessible via ROM manager if you have that app installed, but don't use it (it may work for minor things like themes)

This all pertains to the latest voodoo 5, should include anything from the last month at the very least

 

[ellisz]

Lets say that I want to try the voodoo kernel. All I would have to do is:
Flash voodoo kernel
- Understand that red CWR is the only recovery I need
- Rom manager will open green recovery
-Always remove voodoo via red recovery before flashing a non-voodoo kernel.

Does red CWR replace 2e? Looks like if you reboot to recovery via a theme or use the Vol+ and Vol - press, it will boot to red CWR. Currently if I do that, I go to 2e.

Just wondering for myself and possible any new voodoo users out there

 

[NOsquid]

Yes to all of the above

 

[gunnermike53]

Yes to all of the above

would you mind posting a thread with some basic instructions, pointers and maybe clairify some things like cwm red and green and also what voodoo is used for, why its different from other kernels?

 

[gunnermike53]

so far this is my observation with this kernel

over all speed: great
phone: great
bluetooth: great
wifi: great
everything: great
so far battery life seems great as well but its still to early to say for sure. will know more tomorrow.

 

[NOsquid]

would you mind posting a thread with some basic instructions, pointers and maybe clairify some things like cwm red and green and also what voodoo is used for, why its different from other kernels?

I'm not near a computer, traveling currently and I wouldn't be the best person to address the technical aspects of ext4 vs samsung proprietary rfs. Maybe Adrynalyne will one day if the mood strikes him.

Alls I know is voodoo is a bit faster I can answer basic questions, maybe.

 

[Chris3D]

Ok, just flashed the V2 Voodoo kernel and so far, everything is running perfectly:

GPS still locks on in a handful of seconds (from indoors, so that's perfectly reasonable). WiFi works fine, USB access works as it should. Audio (music/movies) play fine, no popping.

I don't use any Bluetooth stuff, so I can't check that, and I haven't made/received a phone call yet.

 

[gunnermike53]

I'm not near a computer, traveling currently and I wouldn't be the best person to address the technical aspects of ext4 vs samsung proprietary rfs. Maybe Adrynalyne will one day if the mood strikes him.

Alls I know is voodoo is a bit faster I can answer basic questions, maybe.

no need to be to technical. basic stuff. basic how to, a few clarifacations. that kinda thing. but please not while you are driving. that would just be silly.

 

[Chris3D]

would you mind posting a thread with some basic instructions, pointers and maybe clairify some things like cwm red and green and also what voodoo is used for, why its different from other kernels?

Ok, having just polked around a bit, I can answer some of those questions already.

After installing the Voodoo kernel, the normal blue recovery is gone. Volume up/down/power boots directly into a red Clockwork recovery. This has all the standard options + a bunch more stuff, most notably a Voodoo menu in which you can enable/disable the Voodoo lag fix.

One thing I noticed in red recovery is that the captive buttons are now functional - but oddly, you use the back button to select and the menu button to go back. A little unintuitive, but fine once you figure it out.

You can still get into the green Clockwork recovery from choosing "reboot into recovery" from ROM Manager, but as I understand it, you should use the red Clockwork for everything. If you do find yourself in the green recovery, you can go to the advanced menu and choose "reboot recovery" and it'll reboot into red recovery.

Update:

So just to test things, I booted into the red recovery, disabled Voodoo in the Voodoo menu and rebooted the phone. Worked fine. I booted back into red recovery and flashed a non-Voodoo kernel (after double checking that the lagfix was, in fact, disabled). Worked fine - phone booted right back up like nothing happened. I rebooted into recovery, and it's back to standard blue, and when I apply update.zip, I'm back to the green Clockwork.

All works fine with no problems at all. I can't say that I noticed any immediate improvement in performance, but I just reinstalled Voodoo and will spend a few days with it to evaluate it more thoroughly.

 

[gunnermike53]

Ok, having just polked around a bit, I can answer some of those questions already.

After installing the Voodoo kernel, the normal blue recovery is gone. Volume up/down/power boots directly into a red Clockwork recovery. This has all the standard options + a bunch more stuff, most notably a Voodoo menu in which you can enable/disable the Voodoo lag fix.

One thing I noticed in red recovery is that the captive buttons are now functional - but oddly, you use the back button to select and the menu button to go back. A little unintuitive, but fine once you figure it out.

You can still get into the green Clockwork recovery from choosing "reboot into recovery" from ROM Manager, but as I understand it, you should use the red Clockwork for everything. If you do find yourself in the green recovery, you can go to the advanced menu and choose "reboot recovery" and it'll reboot into red recovery.

thats very interesting. i think at some point i am gonna have to just suck it up and play around with it.

 

[Chris3D]

thats very interesting. i think at some point i am gonna have to just suck it up and play around with it.

Make sure you read the update to my previous post - flashing a non-Voodoo kernel is perfectly fine so long as you've disabled the lagfix.

There's no doubt most of the bad rap Voodoo has gotten is due to people not reading before they start flashing away. Seems like as long as you follow a few simple rules, you'll stay out of trouble.

 

[gunnermike53]

Make sure you read the update to my previous post - flashing a non-Voodoo kernel is perfectly fine so long as you've disabled the lagfix.

There's no doubt most of the bad rap Voodoo has gotten is due to people not reading before they start flashing away. Seems like as long as you follow a few simple rules, you'll stay out of trouble.

lol, ive always had problems with rules.

 

[Chris3D]

lol, ive always had problems with rules.

Me too! But I'm much more likely to flash a new ROM than a new kernel, so I'm not too worried about messing up with Voodoo.

 

[Ytaay]

music popping with nv 01/16 kernel

yo Adrynalyne, got the intermittent popping during music playback on the test 2 nv 01-16 kernel.

at first it seemed the popping was in time with changes in the 3G and radio signal icons but after further observation this is not always true.

Fascinating.

 

[fmtx83]

Installed Adrynalyne's DL09_supah_clean_04.zip ROM and adryn_test2_0116_fascinate_novoodoo.zip (Test 2) kernel last night. As one other Test 2 novoodoo kernel user noted, I'm also hearing pops during music playback. Listened for about 30-40 minutes and heard it on two songs from Sheryl Crow and Josh Grobin. I swear to God the Josh Grobin is my wife's music, not mine ;-). I'll listen some more today and get you specific tracks. When it happens it's pretty bad, but other songs seem to play fine. Otherwise, the new ROM and kernel seem fine (wifi, phone, sms tested). I'll report back again after more testing.

 

[fmtx83]

The popping on music playback is definitely repeatable. I'm using the Josh Grobin - We Are the Future "You Raise me Up" track. If i listen with the display active it pops for at least the first minute of the track. If i hit the power button to shut down the display (or let it timeout on its own), the pops stop completely. hitting the power button again to bring up the display to unlock and it still sounds fine. as soon as i unlock the display, the popping starts again. HTH.

 

[Adrynalyne]

Ok, thanks. Would you folks, do me a favor and try some standard voltage kernels and tell me what your results are with music popping? I will put them on the first page.

 

[JaeKar99]

I could not get the music to make any odd noises.. But I don't listen to much music.

I attempted to open several different apps and services while in music playback and could not get the same results.. [listening to Eminem and Tool].

I have good sound quality during calls... I will see if I can get some Josh Groban loaded and try that.

 

[gunnermike53]

Ok, thanks. Would you folks, do me a favor and try some standard voltage kernels and tell me what your results are with music popping? I will put them on the first page.

hey man, i am running dj05 super dark rom with your test 2. you can keep stinkin dl09 (i say that now but just as soon as something new comes out for it i will flahs it). i am not having the poping with bluetooth. i have tried it on my moto 820 head set and my sony car stereo. so this kernel is one of the smoothest ive run. still dont have an accurate battery asessment yet. i wanted to test out the blue tooth thing first. i have had the bluetooth on all morning, about 4 hrs and am at 94% on battery.

 

[Adrynalyne]

Ok...well something folks might want to try is using setcpu and raising it to 200mhz, minimum. It should not negatively affect the battery, because I heavily undervolted that speed as well. See if that cures the popping. Otherwise, there are some standard voltage kernels in the first post, under test 3.

Thanks for testing!