mifi? Who the hell is mifi?
J/K, I know what you meant
ROMs are the operating system. Before you rooted...you had one choice. You were running the release that Motorola and Verizon gave you. Now, you can load a number of different choices. That's where the confusion comes in...there are so damn many!
2.1 or 2.2? That is the first question you need to ask yourself. 2.2 is still working through some glitchiness issues but they are much faster ROMs than the 2.1 ROMs. I personally would go with 2.2 (it's not that glitchy...don't worry) ...and then you have another question...
Source build or not? I'm sure you've heard of Cyanogen. That is a ROM that is built directly from the same source that your "stock" 2.1 ROM came from (you know...before you were rooted). The devs who build from source (there is a list stickied to the top of this forum
) can alter the design much more than other devs like Pete (Bugless Beast). BB is not a source build...it is based on a leaked version of the next "stock" ROM (for those non-rooted folks). Remember...a built from source 2.2 ROM is not necessarily "better" than a 2.2 ROM based off of Motorola's leaked builds...there are just some minor differences that you will discover as you flash different ROMs.
I like the following ROMs:
Built from Source:
- Cyanogen (doesn't have a 2.2 ROM out yet)
- Sapphire (0.6.2 is stable and very nice).
"Modified ROMs:
- Bugless Beast (or the versions modified by Fabolous) - V0.3 is the latest 2.2 release and I've heard mixed opinions.
- JRummy makes a ROM called Kangerade (v1.1 is the latest) and it is really nice. (Now JRummy also makes a ROM compiled from source...but it's not stable...I just didn't want you to think that all JRummy ROMs are the same).
Kernels? This is just a piece of software that is a "go-between" for your software and the ROM. You don't see it, and you really don't know it's there. This software has the ability to change the frequency of your phone's processor. Increasing the frequency means your phone goes faster. All phones are different but faster always means hotter, and decreased battery life. I think that every Droid phone can run 1.0GHz and be 100% stable. Some can go above that. I would start at 800MHz or 1.0GHz. If you want to load up a 1.25 kernel...you can, but your phone may not boot up and then you will have to pull the battery, reinsert it, boot into recovery, locate a different kernel, flash it and then reboot. It starts to get confusing right now...so don't go above 1.0GHz until you get the hang of it
Bottom line...
- Pick a ROM
- Pick a kernel (usually have recommended ones listed where you got the ROM)
- Pick a Recovery (just use Clockwork Recovery...most ROMs are compatible with it and it has a nice little app...ROM Manager...that goes along with it.
Hopefully that helps