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Root So... what exactly is a kernel?

Kenneth196

Kenneth196

Member
Hello. I've had the Shift for about a month now & loving it! There's certain things I wish to do, specifically wireless tethering, overclock, be able to take pics of screen, & increase battery life by slowing down the CPU in sleep mode. Just a few questions however...

1. If I am not mistaken, a ROM is basically the way a phone looks (and operates?)? I plan on keeping my phone looking stock so I will not flash any ROMS.

2. Because I plan on being able to overclock, is there where a kernel comes into play? I see various kernels say things like "1.5 ghz" and "1.8 ghz". Can someone explain this? Like with a 1.51 ghz kernel is that the maximum speed I cna overclock? Also... what is the most stable OC speed for the Shift?

3. This is kinda off subject... after rooting it is advisable to do clockwork recovery. Is that where you make a backup of your nandroid?

Thanks!!
 
Kenneth196 said:
Hello. I've had the Shift for about a month now & loving it! There's certain things I wish to do, specifically wireless tethering, overclock, be able to take pics of screen, & increase battery life by slowing down the CPU in sleep mode. Just a few questions however...

1. If I am not mistaken, a ROM is basically the way a phone looks (and operates?)? I plan on keeping my phone looking stock so I will not flash any ROMS.

2. Because I plan on being able to overclock, is there where a kernel comes into play? I see various kernels say things like "1.5 ghz" and "1.8 ghz". Can someone explain this? Like with a 1.51 ghz kernel is that the maximum speed I cna overclock? Also... what is the most stable OC speed for the Shift?

3. This is kinda off subject... after rooting it is advisable to do clockwork recovery. Is that where you make a backup of your nandroid?

Thanks!!
Click to expand...

1. A rom is like the software that your phone runs on. You can find very stock looking roms that are optimized for speed, and have bloatware removed and useful root apps installed. They will look like sprint roms, and act like them, but be faster, smaller and cleaner.

2. To overclock, you will have to flash one of the kernels that you speak about above. Either the 1.8 or the 1.5. You will also need an overclock app, either overclock widget or setcpu from the market. I have run mine at 1.3 ghz for about a month and never had a problem. I don't think it even needs to be overclocked, but usually the kernels have undervolting built in so that you save battery while having a faster processor... (And besides it is just cool;))

3. I would flash clockwork mod and make a nandroid backup as soon as I rooted if I were you. Also make sure when it is doing the backup, that it does a wimax key backup.


Hope that helps, if you need anything else, post up I will try my best ;)
 
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