Root Pls help me understand rooting...

[Cadamus]

Hey all,

I was hoping for a FAQ somewhere, but I didn't find out. I just wanted to ask some basic rooting questions:

First, if I want to use apps that require root (specifically wifi tethering) can I just root my phone, or do I need a custom ROM as well? Am I even asking that right?

Are there two kinds of rooting? I though I read something about nand rooting? If so, which do I need for those apps.

When it comes down to it, I think I am okay with the OS as it sits, I just want to be able to tether, and run apps like titanium backup, etc. It would also be nice, but not necessary to remove apps I don't use. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Cad

 

[novox77]

Hey all,

I was hoping for a FAQ somewhere, but I didn't find out. I just wanted to ask some basic rooting questions:

First, if I want to use apps that require root (specifically wifi tethering) can I just root my phone, or do I need a custom ROM as well? Am I even asking that right?

Are there two kinds of rooting? I though I read something about nand rooting? If so, which do I need for those apps.

When it comes down to it, I think I am okay with the OS as it sits, I just want to be able to tether, and run apps like titanium backup, etc. It would also be nice, but not necessary to remove apps I don't use. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Cad

Flashing custom ROMs is not possible for the Epic yet. To flash a ROM, you need a custom recovery image. The custom recovery is what's missing. But a rooted filesystem means you can run apps that require superuser.

You may be able to run wifi tether, but you can't use the included app. Go here and try the galaxy version:

android-wifi-tether - Project Hosting on Google Code

The app says you need a custom kernel that supports netfilter. Since you can't flash ROMs, you can't flash custom kernels, and therefore, tether might not work, or might not work well.

Hopefully, the development community for Epic will continue to grow, and eventually, you'll have all these things at your disposal. If you want to learn more about rooting in general, go over to the Evo's "all things root" subforum and check out the sticky. A lot of the info there applies to all Androids. Skip anything that looks like specific root procedures for the Evo.