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Root or not

Alfalfa -
I was drafting this before you asked the question about the data wipe and I wanted to get a quick answer to you before sending this:

To answer your previous question about what gave me that "wow" feeling after rooting here's a quick list of things I did / apps I installed after rooting that made me glad I rooted.

1) Install UD8! Did this a couple months after rooting but this gave the biggest "WOW" factor.

Cool apps available from the market for root users (all pretty much indispensible for me):
2) Ad-free android
3) SetCPU (you already have this)
4) CacheMate
5) AutoKiller
6) Root Explorer (file manager that allows you access to edit system files)

SetCPU and Root Explorer are paid apps but are well worth the $.

A couple other neat things you can do with root:
7) Drocap2 - allows you to take screen shots of your device
8) BRIGHTNESS HACK! I just found this last night. Ever notice how in a pitch black room the Droid screen is too bright even on the lowest setting? You can use this to turn it WAY down for nighttime viewing without hurting your eyes or keeping you from getting sleepy. Available here (you need to register for the forum to DL the file):
Can we hack brightness to go lower? - Page 2 - Droid Forum - Verizon Droid & the Motorola Droid Forum
 
publicanimal said:
Download MyBackup from the Market (1 month free trial, worth upgrading to paid after that).

I also recommend setting up a profile with AppBrain.com and downloading the AppBrain app from the market.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll give MyBackup a try.
I was also going to setup a profile on AppBrain.com, but I keep getting a server error. From my PC as well as from my Droid.
Anyone else having a problem accessing? Guess I'll try again later.


Thornfullessrose said:
You should be prompted to activate your phone upon setup. shouldn't lose your bookmarks. (I haven't) You will lose text though. I use mybackup.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info.

publicanimal said:
Alfalfa -
I was drafting this before you asked the question about the data wipe and I wanted to get a quick answer to you before sending this:

To answer your previous question about what gave me that "wow" feeling after rooting here's a quick list of things I did / apps I installed after rooting that made me glad I rooted.

1) Install UD8! Did this a couple months after rooting but this gave the biggest "WOW" factor.

Cool apps available from the market for root users (all pretty much indispensible for me):
2) Ad-free android
3) SetCPU (you already have this)
4) CacheMate
5) AutoKiller
6) Root Explorer (file manager that allows you access to edit system files)

SetCPU and Root Explorer are paid apps but are well worth the $.

A couple other neat things you can do with root:
7) Drocap2 - allows you to take screen shots of your device
8) BRIGHTNESS HACK! I just found this last night. Ever notice how in a pitch black room the Droid screen is too bright even on the lowest setting? You can use this to turn it WAY down for nighttime viewing without hurting your eyes or keeping you from getting sleepy. Available here (you need to register for the forum to DL the file):
Can we hack brightness to go lower? - Page 2 - Droid Forum - Verizon Droid & the Motorola Droid Forum
Click to expand...

Have UD8 downloaded and ready to go! Can this ROM be pushed beyond 800MHz?

I'll give the apps you recommend a try, and thanks for the info on brightness hack! I use my Droid as a bedside alarm and would love to dim it more than currently possible.
Have always wanted to be able to do a screen capture. Definitely going to give Drocap2 a look.
-mark-
 
Alfalfa-Male said:
Thanks, I'll give MyBackup a try.
I was also going to setup a profile on AppBrain.com, but I keep getting a server error. From my PC as well as from my Droid.
Anyone else having a problem accessing? Guess I'll try again later.
Click to expand...

No, I can access Appbrain.com without issue right now on my phone and my PC.


Alfalfa-Male said:
Have UD8 downloaded and ready to go! Can this ROM be pushed beyond 800MHz?
Click to expand...

Yes, but you'll need a custom kernel. I use Chevy's Low Voltage (LV) 1.0 GHz kernel and it works great. I've also heard good things about Slayher's kernels. Chevy's appear to be the most popular right now. Kernels are installed the same way to install a ROM like UD - rename to update.zip, place in root of SD card, and install from recovery.

A word of warning with flashing kernels, I tried out Chevy's Ultra low voltage (ULV) 1.25 GHz kernel and it sent me into a boot loop. I'm pretty sure it was the fact that it was an Ultra low voltage kernel that did it. I was able to fix the problem by booting into recovery but it scared the sh*t out of me! I personally would recommend avoiding ULV kernels.
 
publicanimal said:
No, I can access Appbrain.com without issue right now on my phone and my PC.

Yes, but you'll need a custom kernel. I use Chevy's Low Voltage (LV) 1.0 GHz kernel and it works great. I've also heard good things about Slayher's kernels. Chevy's appear to be the most popular right now.
Click to expand...

Thanks, now Appbrain is working for me too. Just set up an account.

I'd like to try running UD8 at 1GHz. Do I install UD8 first then the LV 1.0 GHz kernel?
 
Alfalfa-Male said:
Thanks, now Appbrain is working for me too. Just set up an account.

I'd like to try running UD8 at 1GHz. Do I install UD8 first then the LV 1.0 GHz kernel?
Click to expand...

Yes, exactly. The kernel is a tiny file, it installs itself in a few seconds. Install UD8 first, restore your apps and data, and play around with UD for a while. Then flash the kernel later. Flashing the kernel will not affect any of your data.
 
I tried. Got most of the way through the process. When in SPRecovery, I get the error message Can't mount /dev/block/mmcblk0p1 (or something, I'm at work now so I can't retry until later) when I tried to install the update. The file was moved to the root of my SD card, I tried it both ways "update.zip" and just "update" and get the same error each time.

I went in and checked the mount options like the guide suggests and they all look fine. What gives?

EDIT: Googled it a bit... still unanswered but the full error is:
"E:Can't mount /dev/block/mmcblk0p1 (or /dev/block/mmcblk0) (No such file or directory) E: Can't mount SDCARD:"
 
Always practice good Droid hygiene by wiping... a LOT :p

Once you have your stuff set up the way you want, make ANOTHER nandroid backup so you have the UD8 saved. I recommend flashing ClockworkMod recovery (finicky but a lot more versatile) through ROM Manager (free).

Welcome to the world of ROMs!
 
The_Chief said:
Always practice good Droid hygiene by wiping... a LOT :p

Once you have your stuff set up the way you want, make ANOTHER nandroid backup so you have the UD8 saved. I recommend flashing ClockworkMod recovery (finicky but a lot more versatile) through ROM Manager (free).

Welcome to the world of ROMs!
Click to expand...

Yes. Thanks. Lesson learned.
 
The_Chief said:
I recommend flashing ClockworkMod recovery (finicky but a lot more versatile) through ROM Manager (free).
Click to expand...

+1 ROM Manger is a great app and I too used it to flash Clockwork recovery. It is finicky if you try to apply changes through ROM Manager, but if you X-boot into recovery it works great. I wanted to mention it to you earlier Mark, but didn't want to overwhelm you. :)

One of the advantages of ROM Manager is you can install ROMs or kernels without having to rename them update.zip, and they can be installed from any location on your SD card, not just the root of your SD.

Glad you got everything working! TONS of customization options for UD8 such as setting the Notification LED color according to what notification you receive (text, email, missed call, etc).

Not sure what Launcher you are using but I for one use LauncherPro and I love it. I'm pretty sure it's included in UD8.
 
publicanimal said:
+1 ROM Manger is a great app and I too used it to flash Clockwork recovery. It is finicky if you try to apply changes through ROM Manager, but if you X-boot into recovery it works great. I wanted to mention it to you earlier Mark, but didn't want to overwhelm you. :)

One of the advantages of ROM Manager is you can install ROMs or kernels without having to rename them update.zip, and they can be installed from any location on your SD card, not just the root of your SD.

Glad you got everything working! TONS of customization options for UD8 such as setting the Notification LED color according to what notification you receive (text, email, missed call, etc).

Not sure what Launcher you are using but I for one use LauncherPro and I love it. I'm pretty sure it's included in UD8.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. Yes I did pay for LauncherPro. Love it.
I'll be sure to give ROM Manger a try.

Spent just a quick moment looking at the settings for UD8.
Could take a while tweaking.

Right now I'm in Market/downloads....watching all my apps reload...kind of soothing....
 
JTforPink said:
I tried. Got most of the way through the process. When in SPRecovery, I get the error message Can't mount /dev/block/mmcblk0p1 (or something, I'm at work now so I can't retry until later) when I tried to install the update. The file was moved to the root of my SD card, I tried it both ways "update.zip" and just "update" and get the same error each time.

I went in and checked the mount options like the guide suggests and they all look fine. What gives?

EDIT: Googled it a bit... still unanswered but the full error is:
"E:Can't mount /dev/block/mmcblk0p1 (or /dev/block/mmcblk0) (No such file or directory) E: Can't mount SDCARD:"
Click to expand...

I've run into this error message several times and it is annoying! I could never figure out why I was getting the error, but I was always eventually able to get it to work. I haven't been able to put my finger on what fixed the problem other than patience.

If you use ROM Manager what seems to work is flashing back and forth between Clockwork and SPRrecovery a few times. Wish I could be of more help, this has been a really nagging problem for me as well but at least I can say I've had the same problem and eventually got around it (but can't explain how).
 
publicanimal said:
I've run into this error message several times and it is annoying! I could never figure out why I was getting the error, but I was always eventually able to get it to work. I haven't been able to put my finger on what fixed the problem other than patience.

If you use ROM Manager what seems to work is flashing back and forth between Clockwork and SPRrecovery a few times. Wish I could be of more help, this has been a really nagging problem for me as well but at least I can say I've had the same problem and eventually got around it (but can't explain how).
Click to expand...

The problem is I can't get my phone to root because of this issue. I haven't even made it to the ROM steps yet. I'm still trying to finish the last 2 steps of the guide to get rooted int he first place! XD
 
JTforPink said:
The problem is I can't get my phone to root because of this issue. I haven't even made it to the ROM steps yet. I'm still trying to finish the last 2 steps of the guide to get rooted int he first place! XD
Click to expand...

Ah. I recommend this method for rooting since it's the method I used:

Root Droid 1 - regardless of OS version - Droid Forum - Verizon Droid & the Motorola Droid Forum

This will sidestep needing to boot into recovery. One advantage to using this method is it is very similar to the method you would use to restore your Droid to unrooted, stock condition, so it will put you through the paces... and it's really pretty easy if you're good at following directions. Read the "detailed procedure" before proceeding.
 
JTforPink said:
That's the one I used. The problem came up when I tried to do step 16.
Click to expand...

Oh my bad, it had been a while since I rooted so I forgot about that step! Feeling kinda dumb about that.

Stupid question... but did you do step #15 first once or twice (Now highlight "Allow update.zip Installation" and choose it. [It will appear to do nothing -- that's normal. If you're unsure if you clicked it or not, choose it twice, it won't hurt.])

That might help... if not maybe try doing a battery pull and pulling out your SD card and putting it back in, since the issue has something to do with communication with the SD card.
 
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