props to all ROM chefs cause this is hard!

[Avatar28]

I spent all evening yesterday and all day today and I have still yet to get a satisfactory ROM cooked up. I'm using the ppckitchen.org one. It's pretty straightforward, but I can't get free memory to save my life. I think I managed about 8-9 megs free on a WM 6.1 build and around 6 on a 6.5 build. Not real good. Every ROM gives me a "Low Mem (Camera Enabled)" error on the initial splash screen pretty much every single build I've done. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong here. Even through free memory has been low, storage space has been more than adequate, I have barely dipped below 100 MB free storage.

So, yeah, props to all you wonderful ROM chefs out there for doing such a great job and sharing the love with the rest of us.

Now could someone please help me figure out what the bleep I'm doing wrong here? I would, ideally, like a ROM with lots of toys and goodies. Here is what I would like to include (some of these I initially tried loading as OEMs but have managed to track down CAB installers for them so will just do them all afterwards since I can't find a way to put stuff in the extended ROM with this kitchen). My main goal is to make this build as stylus free as possible. To that end, here is my want/need list for it. Please feel free to critique it. I've been out of the loop on this stuff for quite awhile so I'm not sure what programs are currently being recommended and there are way too many for me to try them all out personally so I'm open to suggestions.

WM 6.5


Weather on today screen (using Titanium Weather V3 currently)
Voice Command (have been using 1.6.21040 version in the kitchen but I took it out of the most recent attempt to free up RAM. It isn't critical right now but if I get another BT headset I will definitely want it.)
Sprint Navigation (we're paying for it, might as well have it unless someone knows of a better free app)
Sprint TV (not necessary but would be a plus)
Manila dialer
Finger Friendly KB of some sort (was going to install fingerkb post install)
good selection of ringones (these don't eat up program RAM do they?)
HTC Audio Manager or equivalent finger friendly music player (can the Chrome be made to use this instead of WMP) (This one is not a requirement, I don't do music much on here since I carry a Zune with me but, again, would be a plus)
Newer camera (not the version that comes on the Titan but the newer one that takes better pictures. I saw it in a ROM, not sure which one)
MusicID (post install is fine, have not seen a CAB for it though)
Java (Do I really need this, I don't really run midlets or whatever they're called?)
.net 2.0
Finger friendly browser (Opera? Firefox? are these better than the IE in WM6.5)
Streaming video player (for youtube and all the others)
Office (Excel and Word at the least)
Comm manager (is one better than the others?)
Flashlight (vjcandela or nuelight)
Selection of games (can install those from cabs too)
the new windows live stuff like the voice activated navigation. May not be any count but I want to try it.
any other useful and recommend utilities


WM 6.1
Pretty much the same as above except replace the 6.5 specific chrome stuff with Manila2D and it's configurator and the new browser is more necessary.

Like I said, though, if anyone has any advice I am all ears on this one. If I can get a properly working and stable ROM I will try to upload it for anyone else that wants it as a thank you for the help.

[jraygoza]

Hey don't quit keep going... I'm sure that the more times you try it eventually you'll get a working rom.

[Avatar28]

Thanks. I finally got up to about 11 MB with WM 6.5 by leaving Voice Command out. It's not ideal but it is a start. Need to get something to have it close programs instead of leaving them running.

[mattsm]

Thanks. I finally got up to about 11 MB with WM 6.5 by leaving Voice Command out. It's not ideal but it is a start. Need to get something to have it close programs instead of leaving them running.

6.5 has nuekernel
If in low memory mode so that camera will work you loose 5-7mb.
In high memory mode you gain mb but cannot use camera.

[mcfz]

My time to cook is coming... I can feel it...

Seems like a lot of work, but well worth it if you pull it off... Keep up your efforts!

[AkumaX]

2nd those props!

[AkumaX]

2nd those props!

[Avatar28]

So far I haven't had a lot of luck with 6.5. It seems that these phones just simply don't have enough RAM to handle it properly and give me everything I want. I guess I will have to go back to 6.1. Although, really, it probably isn't worth my time. A lot of people here at work have been complaining about their Moguls. They want their precious crackberries back (ugh!). So they're getting rid of these and swapping them out now. I'm going to wait as long as possible before I swap mine though. There's sure to be a line and, honestly, I'd just as soon keep my Mogul if I can get it stable. Otherwise I'm gonna have to come up with $350 to buy a new personal phone to feed my WiMo addiction. I can't believe AT&T has jacked up the Fuze to $350 though. Yeesh. I'm tempted to just wait until their next one comes along at this point, hopefully one that will support 6.5 officially.

[PRBajista]

So far I haven't had a lot of luck with 6.5. It seems that these phones just simply don't have enough RAM to handle it properly and give me everything I want. I guess I will have to go back to 6.1. Although, really, it probably isn't worth my time. A lot of people here at work have been complaining about their Moguls. They want their precious crackberries back (ugh!). So they're getting rid of these and swapping them out now. I'm going to wait as long as possible before I swap mine though. There's sure to be a line and, honestly, I'd just as soon keep my Mogul if I can get it stable. Otherwise I'm gonna have to come up with $350 to buy a new personal phone to feed my WiMo addiction. I can't believe AT&T has jacked up the Fuze to $350 though. Yeesh. I'm tempted to just wait until their next one comes along at this point, hopefully one that will support 6.5 officially.

If I read your posts correctly you have found some of the cabs for the programs you want for your build, but I saw no mention of a memory card. Have you tried building your rom and then installing the cabs to the programs you like on the memory card? Not all programs can be installed on the memory card but alot of the ones you have listed can be. I recommend at least a 2 gig. (I have a 4 gig on my phone). Just make sure its not the HC memory cards as they are not compatible with this device. Like I said Im not sure if you have already gone this route but its just a suggestion. Hope this helps.

PRBajista 9: :cool:

[Avatar28]

If I read your posts correctly you have found some of the cabs for the programs you want for your build, but I saw no mention of a memory card. Have you tried building your rom and then installing the cabs to the programs you like on the memory card? Not all programs can be installed on the memory card but alot of the ones you have listed can be. I recommend at least a 2 gig. (I have a 4 gig on my phone). Just make sure its not the HC memory cards as they are not compatible with this device. Like I said Im not sure if you have already gone this route but its just a suggestion. Hope this helps.

PRBajista 9: :cool:

I have a couple of apps that I have done that with. But, really, the problem isn't storage so much as operational RAM. I finally decided that I could either use WM 6.5 or the camera and that I would rather have 6.5. Putting the phone into high memory mode helped a lot with it, but it still quickly memory leaks down to about 12 megs free. I'm working with the chef of my current ROM over at ppckitchen trying to figure it out. I'm starting to wonder if some of these devices don't have a hardware issue that causes some people to have memory leaks or if it is possibly related to the bootloader (2.40 vs 2.47) because some people seem to have no problem with them while almost every custom ROM I have tried running seems to have a memory leak.