Original vs Cooked ROMs

[Bardia Garsha]

A few days ago I posted something on L26 V5 Diamond thread. It was either a very broad subject or a very naive one that nobody cared to write something in reply. Maybe I shouldn't have posted there.

Now I bring the subject here in a separate thread hoping that we would all share our views and experiences with regard to Original/Official WM6.1 ROMs vs the cooked ones. I already apologize if the subject doesn't deserve a thread and leave it to mods to decide whether the thread should remain or be closed.
Here's what I'd posted there:

So far as bugs are concerned, who's the culprit : build 19588.1.1.4 ? or L26_K_D_V5 ??

It seems an error is repeating so often & so regularly that it's becoming a systematic error. What am I talking about?

Well, we usually get so much focused on L26_XXX ROM or Dutty's_XXX ROM ...etc. that we totoally forget about the "Original/Official" ROMs these cooked ones are based on.

Somewhere in the devine XDA text , God once said :

Flash an "original/official" ROM / HR / flash the XXX cooked ROM / HR

The above is now a universally accepted verdict among us frequent ROM flashers. But how many of us do stay upon the "Original/Official" ROM - whether HTC or AT&T ...etc - for 10 minutes (or 10 seconds for that matter !!) ??

We flash the "Original/Official" ROM (whatever version it is - though , we generally tend to flash the Latest Original/Official one) only for the sake of the above said verdict and certainly not to see how that original ROM works on our devices. Understandably, this happens because we're in a hurry to flash the beautiful cooked ones.

What is my point?

How many of the rulings we pass (and the bugs we report) on L26_K_D_V5 have been tested (over a period of a week or so) upon the "Original/Offical" ROM the V5 is based upon (i.e. CE 5.2.19212 Build 19588.1.1.4) ?

Perhaps it's time that someone with an authoritative knowledge of ROMs takes the list of reported bugs/issues of V5, flashes the Build 19588.1.1.4 , rests upon it for a while , and sees if these are native issues of the "Original/Official" ROM or Leo's V5.

Does it sound too idiotic and naive? Maybe. But at least I can claim that I have not seen such thorough comparison between these two specific ROMs anywhere in the forum. Of course, the wise redbandana (God bless him) usually brings us news of (and introduces to us) new Original/Official Kaiser ROMs in separate threads. But what I mean is thorough comparison between these two specific Original/Official and Cooked ROMs.

Cheers

[tubaking182]

i see your knoweldge and believe that you are on to something, i don't remember what ROM i was on cause i have flashed almost all of them, but when i went to the official of the same build a lot of the same errors were being seen. most times as long as the chef knows of these problems in the official rom they try to cook the fixes into their version but it is not easy to see every bug in a rom by yourself.

[Bardia Garsha]

i see your knoweldge and believe that you are on to something, i don't remember what ROM i was on cause i have flashed almost all of them, but when i went to the official of the same build a lot of the same errors were being seen. most times as long as the chef knows of these problems in the official rom they try to cook the fixes into their version but it is not easy to see every bug in a rom by yourself.

the fact is , up in the heaven , all mods/chefs/very_senior_members know all about these things. My point was to open up a window for us mortals down here to have a clearer idea about what we see in (and pass judgements on) cooked roms.

The undeniable truth is that each chef cooks his rom on a specific original version/build and a clearer knowledge of the original built in each case (and a comparison between the two) allows us mortals to have a better understanding of what the chef has actually done in his rom.

As a very minor and silly example, while in L29 V5 Diamond I am struggling to to see why the "disconnect" button in GPRS connectivity bubble is missing, it would be helpful to know whether this is the "default" option of the original built or is it Leo's - and if it is Leo's, what are the merits/faults of his choice.

You may ask why I don't do such thorough survey myself ? Well, to be honest, I would really die to have such extensive knowledge and expertise. But the fact is, some people are savvys and gurus and some are not. It takes me a lifetime to be as knowledgeable as Dutty or Leo or Alex ...etc. I just hope that in here each of us can bring just a little piece of his/her info to share with others on the subject of this comparison.

[vcespon]

Well, I've been using HTC original ROMs for a long time, so here's my report:

Original HTC WM 6.0:
- Great radio (1.27.12.17), GPS fix fast, good battery life
- Skype works
- Cleartype works OK on landscape
- No missing G icon or disconnect button when you click the connection icon
- Feels fast enough (a lot of RAM free)

Original HTC WM 6.1 released on may
- Less than 60 MB RAM available on boot
- Bad radio (1.65.16.25), problems connecting to WiFi with WEP enabled, slow GPS fix
- Skype does not work
- Cleartype does not work correctly on landscape
- Does not feel faster, needs new SPL to avoid random freezes
- No missing icons / apps

Original HTC 3.02
- My favourite unless Nothrills comes up with something better
- Excelent radio (1.58.26.20), best GPS and WiFi
- Skype does not work
- Landscape mode works OK
- Camera can be easily patched or updated to 5.04

All of them come with Office and Onenote, Windows Live, and usual utilities
All of them can be tweaked with KaiserTweak or AdvancedConfig and you get a pretty much fast and estable ROM that just works.
No screen redraw problems, no blank screens, no missing buttons, no missing apps...

[Bardia Garsha]

Well, I've been using HTC original ROMs for a long time, so here's my report:

Original HTC WM 6.1 released on may
- Less than 60 MB RAM available on boot
- Bad radio (1.65.16.25), problems connecting to WiFi with WEP enabled, slow GPS fix
- Skype does not work
- Cleartype does not work correctly on landscape
- Does not feel faster, needs new SPL to avoid random freezes
- No missing icons / apps


It's amazing that while reading your report on Original HTC WM6.1 , I suddenly felt as if I was reading the threads of some of the new cooked kasier roms! Everything you said (and a lot not mentioned here) are exactly the same problems reported in those threads over and over again.

So next time when one reports in , for example, Dutty's new rom thread that : "Skype is not working" , or "the cleartype in landscape bug" he should know that these are exactly the same issues in the original 6.1 and has nothign to do with Dutty's rom.

[ryncppr]

I agree with you so much. Amazingly to Cook a rom is a few files added here, a few files deleted. Put in what you want, make a few tweaks to the registry and Whaaa Laaa.

AMazingly, WM6.1 has a lot of bugs. Probably not what Microsoft expected when they developed the software. The landscape issues I try to tell everyone over and over it has nothing to do with what the Cook did, its a WM6.1 problem.

I do not use skype but I am assuming the same thing. I think in this thread, we should add the most common problems that we have so we can start looking into them more deeply.

[vcespon]

Obviously the cooks inherit the bugs of the ROMs they use as base.
HTC finally released an official WM 6.1 ROM for the Kaiser, with "improved graphics" but at a cost.
- Bad radio. 1.65 radios are not better than 1.27 or 1.58. Ask anyone about GPS fix or battery.
- They changed a display routine so it's faster, but they screwed cleartype on landscape mode, that was working on previous HTC ROMs
- A lot less memory available, and I do not see a big speed increase in return
- The ROM feels heavier than previous one, the screen switches in one move, but the total time to do the switch is longer than previous ROMs
- Skype does not work, it was working on WM 6.0

Some of these bugs have been corrected by cooks when adding files from other builds. HyperDragon III works OK on landscape, ROMs from L26 and Dutty work with Skype... But they introduce other bugs like the missing G icon, or disconnect button.
I hope they interchange their findings so we finally have a ROM where everything works. I don't care if it gets 1432 or 1512 points on some benchmark, if HSDPA does not work, or the device soft-resets while playing MP3, then I'm not going to use that.

[slovoflud]

Reading all of this makes me wanna downgrade to 6.0. Until we have a working Android, that is... :)

[msharaf]

Just wanna share with you as I am using an official ROM for a long time now.

Original ROMs are the best as they have every thing working. Yes everything, sometimes a minor bugs are annoying like I was unable to send a vcard as sms using one of the super ROMs.

I think the only point is tweaking. If we tweak the original ROM they will perform as good as the cooked one.

As much as the chefs change in ROM as much as we get bugs. My opinion is chefs should concentrate on main issues and always release lite versions leaving options for users.

I have to admit that I have learnt a lot from cooked ROMs which helped me to tune the original ROM to my best.

[gabriel31337]

Just wanna share with you as I am using an official ROM for a long time now.

Original ROMs are the best as they have every thing working. Yes everything, sometimes a minor bugs are annoying like I was unable to send a vcard as sms using one of the super ROMs.

I think the only point is tweaking. If we tweak the original ROM they will perform as good as the cooked one.

As much as the chefs change in ROM as much as we get bugs. My opinion is chefs should concentrate on main issues and always release lite versions leaving options for users.

I have to admit that I have learnt a lot from cooked ROMs which helped me to tune the original ROM to my best.

Yeah, that's what I have suggested yesterday but met the offence only.

Well, different people, different opinions.

[Bardia Garsha]

I think in this thread, we should add the most common problems that we have so we can start looking into them more deeply.

ryncppr, apart from the need to learn more about Original roms, i also came across another strange fact that is widely ignored.

Does anyone care "what" original rom to flash before flashing his desired cooked one? I read many of the threads ; it seems that nobody does pay any attention to this matter. BUT the type of Original rom we flash before flashing the cooked one (depending on our geographical location and the make of our phones), DO CERTAINLY COUNT A LOT.

This is what I noticed and just posted on Dutty's V1 thread :
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=398271&page=90

Technically, I don't understand why this happens (perhaps you as a good chef could explain this matter in technical terms) , but I have no doubt now that it is crucially important what original rom we flash first.

[ryncppr]

ryncppr, apart from the need to learn more about Original roms, i also came across another strange fact that is widely ignored.

Does anyone care "what" original rom to flash before flashing his desired cooked one? I read many of the threads ; it seems that nobody does pay any attention to this matter. BUT the type of Original rom we flash before flashing the cooked one (depending on our geographical location and the make of our phones), DO CERTAINLY COUNT A LOT.

This is what I noticed and just posted on Dutty's V1 thread :
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=398271&page=90

Technically, I don't understand why this happens (perhaps you as a good chef could explain this matter in technical terms) , but I have no doubt now that it is crucially important what original rom we flash first.

A big problem is that people do not believe you need to hard reset after you flash a ROM. You do. THe process that WM has built in only clears the memory and storage files, leading to useless junk that gets left behind.

I used to think if I flashed a ROM it was completely getting rid of the last rom, which has found not to be the truth. Though a clearing system file is now shown on the screen, it is not truly getting rid of all the old files, hence the problems with putting ROM over ROM.

[tubaking182]

I know it's a bad practice to have, but I very rarely hard reset my phone after a flash, and I have to admit I never flash the originals back to my phonebefore flashing. once in a great while I hit a weird glitch that I can't seem to find a solution for, and so I hard reset to fix it. I guess part of it is that i'm so impatient that I can't stand to wait a few extra minutes. I check the site anytime i'm not working and if there is a new rom available I've downloaded and flashed before looking through the bugs found. I guess i'm gonna start going to originals first and hard reset every time, now to help on that, is there a way that we know of that will automatically do the hard reset one time right after a flash? I know UC wouldn't work cause it runs after the hard reset/flash so it would loop. if we could cook the rom to auto reset once and one time only it would help out those that ocasionally "forget."

on a side note, this was typed through my phone so sorry for any spelling errors there might be and thank you ryncppr for a great rom.

[Bardia Garsha]

I know it's a bad practice to have, but I very rarely hard reset my phone after a flash

The truth is you are a big boy and can handle the giltches/issues. Just take a look at hundreds of posts out there in which people complain and report about some of the most unthinkable issues (e.g. "my phone resets itself every 5 minutes" (Jesus Christ) !! or "when I push the call button my phone starts media player"!! perhaps soon we should expect posts that will read: "after disconnecting the bluetooth headset, our washing mashing stopped working" !

I know that for example Dutty is very serious on his belief on flashing original/HR/cooked/HR every single time one wants to flash a rom - and for god's sake this man really knows what he's talking about.

Sometimes very bizarre things happen when one ignores the above must-do process.

However, my main object here was to invite people to share their bits of info on what a specific original rom does (or might do) to our devices when it's flashed prior to a specific custom rom , and why.

and btw, your spellign is brilliant.:)

[loubega]

Hello, since I`ve updates my HTC Tytn II I have too much problems with my internet connection, wifi, gps,...so I would like to upgrade to the previous Version WM 6.0 Prof. (original, german).
Have someone a linke where I could find original (geman) ROMs?
Thanks for your help, :)

Lou

[Bardia Garsha]

Hello, since I`ve updates my HTC Tytn II I have too much problems with my internet connection, wifi, gps,...so I would like to upgrade to the previous Version WM 6.0 Prof. (original, german).
Have someone a linke where I could find original (geman) ROMs?
Thanks for your help, :)

Lou

I'm afraid your post has nothing to do with this thread - just wonder why u posted this here !

anyway, you can find the original/official kaiser roms here:
http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=Kaiser_ROMs

[Bardia Garsha]

Ok, in oder to see the effects of different original/official roms we flash before the custom rom, i did the following and noticed an obvious difference:

1) flashed AT&T offiical WM6.1 CE 3.14.502.1 (built 19209) and then L26 V5

- flashed the same official AT&T and then Dutty's Diamond V1

in both cases, both L26 and Dutty's roms were not functioning optimal on my device. had to deal with many issues (from BT to GPRS to connectivity ...etc. as well as general responsiveness of the device)

2) flashed HTC_WWE_3.28.405.0 and then L26 V5

- flashed the same original HTC and then Dutty's Diamond V1

in both cases , both L26 and Dutty's roms were functioning a lot better on the device. almost %90 of the previous issues were gone.

in both 1) & 2) I used radio 1.65.16.25 and observed strictly the same procedure (usb flashing, same HR, no SD card inserted, no 3rd party app installed ...etc.)

what's going on? i'm now more confident that the type/version of the original or official rom we flash prior to the custom rom affects the custom rom and its behavior on our devices hugely.

this is still widely igonored by the chefs as i've never heard them on their threads mentioning/suggesting what original/offiical rom should be flashed prior to flashing their cooked roms.

[bengalih]

I think alot of what you are trying to accomplish here was discussed previously. I have always been a proponent of trying to use Original ROMs in order to better understand what is "original" vs what is cooked and doing all tweaks by myself:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=389519

[schizo]

Just stumble upon this. I think this one is quite insightful. But yet we have only Cooked ROM threads, reviews, and comments. Not on Stock ROM... once a while though *wonder why.. LoL*

Maybe we should encourage people who use stock ROM to start a thread for their own stock ROM version and make some reviews among the users? Not so good idea, but not so bad either.

I mean this thread is not only to know what work in 6.1 and what doesn't, right?

And for the current moment maybe we could have common concensus for responding to 'bizarre problems after flashing ROM xx.. bla.. bla bla' with : reflash stock rom -> hard reset -> reflash cooked rom -> hard reset -> still have problems?

[kristoff_sz]

Just stumble upon this. I think this one is quite insightful. But yet we have only Cooked ROM threads, reviews, and comments. Not on Stock ROM... once a while though *wonder why.. LoL*

Maybe we should encourage people who use stock ROM to start a thread for their own stock ROM version and make some reviews among the users? Not so good idea, but not so bad either.

Schizo, im gonna do it in few days! I'm working on cooked first. But i have in plans to test Stock ROMs...

[kolibrik]

Schizo, im gonna do it in few days! I'm working on cooked first. But i have in plans to test Stock ROMs...

Did you guys follow through with this idea. I must admit that I switched from Dutty's ROM to official HTC ROM and I cannot be happier. I switched actually back to 6.0 ROM and it works like a breeze. One noticeable difference is the battery life. With Dutty's and different radios I was only getting day of life max. Now I can get almost two days. Also, and with several different Radios from 1.65.xx.xx I had terrible lock times for GPS. No I can lock up after reboot in about 30sec.
I wonder if somebody would actually do some side by side comparisons. I am thinking about getting another Tilt just to do some experimenting with ROMs. But I am newbie and I was looking for some more objective criteria than just comparing times and feels. :-)