Covering my bases

[Sheepdog Elite]

So I'm feeling like I'm finally up for some heavy flashing and I just wanna run some questions to be certain first. I've done a lot of reading and haven't found these answers in my digging.

1. Once I have a working Nan backup, can I just kinda try stuff, and if I brick, odin myself back to working order and load my backup? Is there a more advanced recovery process I should learn prior to advanced play?

1a. Is there a manner of bricking that I can't salvage, and what would that involve so I can avoid it?

2. Voodoo kernels sound well and good but don't seem to do much in real applications. Any thoughts to the contrary?

3. ROMs don't seem to be forward and backward compatible much. Is there a good list of DL09 friendly ROMs to work with? Is stupidfast stupid fast?

4. I read somewhere about a Kernel that lowers CPU clock when idle. Is there one for the fascinate? Does it save much battery?

5. Is there some sort of repository for usefull information on roms/kernels without just trudging through everything to find something you like?

6. Last but not least my understanding is that the "radio" and "modem" are subsections of the kernel? Will the DL09 fix for the gps stick if I load another kernel, or do most kernels come with a replacement for this?

If any of this is gibberish please let me know, and if possible point me at a good educational post.

Edit: woops, meant to post this in roms/hacks if an OP could scoot it over. Sorry.

 

[Chris3D]

1. More or less. As long as you have a good backup, you can flash another rom and/or screw around hacking/modifying your rom. If something goes wrong, just reboot into Clockwork Recovery, wipe data/cache/dalvic cache and restore your backup and you should be good to go.

The one caveat is that Clockwork backups (Nandroid backups) only include the System, not the kernel. You can use Clockwork to flash a new kernel, but backups don't include the kernel. So, if you flash a kernel and things go wrong, you'll need to flash a new kernel.

1a. The only two easy ways to really screw up your phone are 1. flashing something from another phone model (like flashing a Captivate kernel on a Fascinate), or flashing anything in Odin using the Phone button. *NEVER* use the phone button, *ALWAYS* use the PDA button. Aside from that, you can screw things up flashing a non-voodoo kernel over a Voodoo kernel without first disabling Voodoo, but there's clear, if somewhat involved, ways to recover from that.

2. I recently flashed a Voodoo kernel on my phone and on one hand, as long as you read up and understand the do's and don'ts, it couldn't be easier. On the other hand, honestly, I haven't noticed any objective improvement in performance whatsoever. Honestly, I think it fixes a fictitious problem. Sure, the EXT4 file system might be technically better/faster/more reliable than RFS, but in the real world, how the phone is really used, I just don't think it makes an obvious difference.

3. You're right, roms aren't forward/backward compatible. If you're on DI01 modem, you'll need to use a DI01 rom and kernel. DJ05 and DL09 roms/kernels/modems seem to be somewhat compatible, but I think it's best to stick to one or the other. My suggestion would be to upgrade to DJ05 at minimum, as it fixes the GPS and lowers the excessive sidetone which some (including myslef) found really distracting while talking on the phone. Most roms have DJ05 versions now, so you're not limiting your options much, if at all, by upgrading to DJ05. As far as StupidFast goes, the only thing I found it did stupidly fast was eat through my battery. Plus, it's been abandoned by the dev, so it's really a dead end. I'd recommend either one of JT's or one of Adrynalyne's kernels - they work great and they're supported.

4. I believe there is, but I can't give you any specifics as I've never messed around with them. If your interest in lowering the CPU speed when idle is to improve battery life, I'd just start with one of either JT's or Adrynalyne's kernels - stock voltage or undervolted. One of them and a clean rom should give you all the battery life you need without messing with the CPU speed.

5. There have been a few posts which have tried to list all the available roms/kernels/etc., but they tend to be forgotten after a while. Too much changes too quickly - for example, with most people having upgraded to DJ05/DL09, interest in older DI01 stuff is falling. Best thing is to keep an eye on this forum and XDA.

6. The modem or radio (same thing) aren't really a sub-component of the kernel. You flash them separately with Odin and they're totally unaffected by flashing new kernels. For example, if you flash a DL09 modem, then a DL09 kernel, if you then flash a DJ05 or DI01 kernel, you still have the DL09 modem. As for the GPS fix sticking, as long as you're remaining on DJ05 or DL09, the GPS will be fixed. If you flash back to DI01, it'll again be broken. There were patches for DI01 that attempted to apply the DJ05 GPS fix to DI01, but the results were sporadic.

As I said, your best bet is to flash up to a DJ05 modem and play with DJ05 kernels and roms. You'll get the GPS and sidetone fixes, and have the most, and most supported, options for kernels and roms.

 

[Sheepdog Elite]

Final question.

The way I understand fixing a voodoo kernel conflict with nonvoodoo goes like this.

Disable lagfix via red recovery (or put in disable lagfix file manually)

Flash new kernel via odin

Smile.

Oh, and do you have a favorite ROM?

 

[Chris3D]

Final question.

The way I understand fixing a voodoo kernel conflict with nonvoodoo goes like this.

Disable lagfix via red recovery (or put in disable lagfix file manually)

Flash new kernel via odin

Smile.

More or less, but there there's one critical step: rebooting after you disable Voodoo and before you flash another kernel.

Just for some background on Voodoo, basically, all it does is change the file system on the phone. It's like formatting a PC with NTFS as opposed to FAT. The first time you boot after installing a Voodoo kernel, it'll aumatically convert to EXT4 from RFS. It backs up data from the phone to the SD card, formats in EXT4, and then restores the data. When you do the disable (either in the Clockwork menu or by manually putting the disable lagfix file on the SD card), on the next boot, it basically reverses the conversion - it'll backup your data, format the partitions in RFS and then restore your data.

So, if you want to switch back to a non-Voodoo kernel, you need to set it to disable, *then* reboot so it'll actually convert back, *then* flash a new kernel. If you just set it to disable in Clockwork, and then immediately flashed a new kernel, your file system would still be EXT4 and since you'd have just replaced the Voodoo kernel, the new one wouldn't do the conversion and wouldn't be able to read the EXT4 partitions.

So the steps are: Set it to disable (CwM or manually), then reboot to let it actually un-convert, then flash new kernel.

And you can flash kernels in Clockwork, you don't need to use Odin.

Oh, and do you have a favorite ROM?

Mostly a debloated stock rom. I'm not too interested in all these themes and stuff, and there are several stock apps I actually find useful (My Files, Task Manager, Notes, etc.). A lot of people love BlackHole, but in my experience, I've always experienced poor battery life with it. So I've always got the best performance out of either a manually debloated stock rom, or JT's SuperClean.