[Verizon] Do you need to unlock the bootloader for Kernel?

[Crudes]

Hi, the title sort of says it all. If you don't need to unlock the bootloader for a kernel, why would you ever need to unlock the bootloader? For a ROM? Could someone explain what a ROM is then and how it differs from a bootloader?

Thanks in advance, this forum is always so helpful.

 

[SolidOrange]

Hi, the title sort of says it all. If you don't need to unlock the bootloader for a kernel, why would you ever need to unlock the bootloader? For a ROM? Could someone explain what a ROM is then and how it differs from a bootloader?

Thanks in advance, this forum is always so helpful.

yes, you will need to unlock to load a custom kernel.

as for rom vs kernel vs bootloader, hopefully these definitions will help.

What Is A Bootloader ?
In literal terms, bootloader is code that is executed before any Operating System starts to run. The concept of bootloaders is universal to virtually all Operating systems that inculcates operating systems on your PC, laptop, smartphones, and other such devices. Bootloaders basically package the instructions to boot operating system kernel and most of them also have their own debugging or modification environment. As the bootloader kicks off before any piece of software on your device, it makes it extremely processor specific and every motherboard has it’s own bootloader. This is one reason that all Android phones have different Custom ROMS developed due to high variance of processing hardware present on the device. The iDevices running iOS somewhat share the same hardware specs and hence you don’t see much variance in their bootloaders.

Android Phone Bootloaders ?
Every Android phone has a bootloader that instructs the operating system kernel to boot normally. But you need to understand one thing here that as Android OS is an open source OS and is available on a variety of different hardware, every manufacturer has their own version of bootloader specific for the hardware present in it’s environment. We also saw couple of weeks back that Motorola packaged an “eFuse” command in their Android phones, which could brick (permanently turn off) your device in case you tried to flash a Custom ROM.

What Is Bootloader And How To Unlock Bootloader On Android Phones [Complete Guide]

ROM
Read Only Memory. In the context of an Android device, ROM is the internal flash memory where the core operating system resides. It can also refer to a specific version firmware that can be applied to a device through a process usually referred to as flashing. An improperly flashed ROM can often brick the device, rendering it unusable.

Kernel
The central or core software component of most operating systems. Its responsibilities include managing the system's resources (the communication between hardware and software components) and can provide the lowest-level abstraction layer for resources (especially memory, processors, and I/O devices).

Terminology - CyanogenMod Wiki

 

[lazy bum]

to piggyback on this, I've looked around and haven't found a clear answer one way or another: if I've rooted using the superboot method and not the ClockworkMod method, can I still flash kernels (if so, how?) or do you have to use the ClockworkMod method to flash kernels?

 

[Yeahha]

to piggyback on this, I've looked around and haven't found a clear answer one way or another: if I've rooted using the superboot method and not the ClockworkMod method, can I still flash kernels (if so, how?) or do you have to use the ClockworkMod method to flash kernels?

You just need to flash CWM recovery then you should be able to boot into it and flash a kernel or rom.

The easiest way since you are rooted would be just download rom manager and allow it to flash CWM recovery for you. I don't suggest using RM to flash anything else however (my personal opinion) Also you need to rename or delete the "recovery-from-boot.p" file in /system to something else like "recovery-from-boot.p-bak" to make CWM stick.

If you want to keep the stock recovery then either softboot CWM using fastboot or don't rename the file and flash recovery using RM choose the option to reboot in recovery from RM flash whatever you wish then reboot.