CABBIE!!!
Yeah - he did a GREAT write up.
Meanwhile - this is a must-bookmark thread if you're new to rooting:
HTC EVO helpful/popular threads (Look here First!) - xda-developers
I'll let Cabbie come back with his tutorial.
Here are some basics you're going to run into quickly. If the terminology or concepts are funky right now, just bookmark this and come back to it.
First - root is to unix as Administrator is to Windows. It's the name of superuser account, it's the class of privileges that go with that account. Rooting is the accepted term for getting to those privileges.
Right now - Sprint is root on your phone.
Your phone has a few parts:
- a modified Linux kernel
- a customized Linux-y operating system
- a bunch of system apps
- a bunch of user apps
- data areas for all of the above
- a GUI - associated with your launcher; the stock launcher is Sense
- some really important soft area called data and the Dalvik cache - this is the working space for the software
- some radio and wimax software - to make it a phone
The slang term for putting them altogether is called a rom.
And - you can have a rom_yadda.zip and then have add-on packages called radio_yadda.zip and wimax_yadda.zip.
I run the stock rooted rom - it's the same as the OTA 3.26.yadda.6 update - but it's been rooted.
I chose that because I happen to like Sense ok so far - but I hate the Sprint bloatware - so I threw it out. When you're root, you can do that - and never sweat what junkware is ever running again.
I also choose to then add a custom kernel. I lost some features that HTC provided, but I gained some others. These are documented in the kernel_yadda.zip threads on XDA so as time progressed, and I got used to XDA, making my choice was easy enough.
Others choose more flexible GUIs - the what-you-see part. One popular one seems to be Fresh_yadda.zip - and to make sure it all works, Fresh_yadda.zip will contain everything you need, just like a stock rooted rom, so you don't have to manage a separate zip package for all the bullet point areas above.
Next - you're going to hear about odex'd. Odex'd odex'd odex'd. You really only care about this if you're going in for custom themes. A "deodexed" rom is easier for developers to customize and move around and swap around - and a regular odexed rom will tend to boot up faster.
Hopefully, this is somehow useful info.
My only advice is to BE PATIENT. With your phone. With yourself. And to READ carefully ALL the instructions before you start and to not skip a single step. Not ever.
OK, now all you need is Cabbie's write-up for the three levels of rooting and you're prolly good to go.
Best luck.
PS - I'll PM cabbie for his help here.
PPS - Bookmark this:
http://androidforums.com/support-troubleshooting-evo-4g/141369-how-fix-froyo.html
I _promise_ you'll be needing this at some point - no need to dread it when there's a procedure!