Stupid noob needs help

[Da9L]

Hey guys !

I've been around here for many years but have allways been using Windows Mobile phones. I've had a Hero for about a year and i must say that i am very pleased with it. It works so damn good ! I've been flashing roms on windows mobile phones and even created roms my self.

However this Android / Linux world is so new to me that i have no idea what i need to do in order to simply flash a rom on my Hero!

What i get is that i need to root my device. There are some few guides for this in the wiki but i still do not know if my Hero is a Virgin og a Telus. How can i see this?

Also i see a lot of Linux based talk and commands (i presume) that i do not understand anything of. Do we have any desciption of the most common used commands and such stuff so new people like me can get a better understanding of what you guys are actually talking about?

When i learn all this i will edit the wiki with the information. And as i am new it is easier for me to fill in what is missing if you understand

.. And yes i have searched!

 

[nprussell]

Hey guys !

I've been around here for many years but have allways been using Windows Mobile phones. I've had a Hero for about a year and i must say that i am very pleased with it. It works so damn good ! I've been flashing roms on windows mobile phones and even created roms my self.

However this Android / Linux world is so new to me that i have no idea what i need to do in order to simply flash a rom on my Hero!

What i get is that i need to root my device. There are some few guides for this in the wiki but i still do not know if my Hero is a Virgin og a Telus. How can i see this?

Also i see a lot of Linux based talk and commands (i presume) that i do not understand anything of. Do we have any desciption of the most common used commands and such stuff so new people like me can get a better understanding of what you guys are actually talking about?

When i learn all this i will edit the wiki with the information. And as i am new it is easier for me to fill in what is missing if you understand

.. And yes i have searched!

Theunlockr.com is an excellent source of information on rooting/flashing your Hero.

 

[Branwen]

Theunlockr.com is an excellent source of information on rooting/flashing your Hero.

Seconded.
And when you're unlocked, check out Villain and Vanillain ROM's (check out previous post), definitely two of the best

 

[ZED_pt]

if you want to know if your phone is rooted download and install "Super user" and run it,you will then know if your phone is rooted or not.

I,like you,was a WM user and found android to be more complicated,but in fact it´s not...once you root your phone and install Amon-RA recovery ( http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=4549551&postcount=1 ) its much easier and simple to do things.

theres a sticky in this sub-forum with wiki-guides,read it!

 

[ZED_pt]

Seconded.
And when you're unlocked, check out Villain and Vanillain ROM's (check out previous post), definitely two of the best

True used a lot those roms.
Waiting patiently for a Vanillain rom based in eris dump.

Right now im still using AychTeeSee's just to be able to use the Buuf Theme

 

[gciochina]

I'm in the exact same situation as Da9L . Could you please let me know if flashing a new ROM will also change the Firmware version?

Currently my firmware is 1.5. I've seen on a friend's G1 the voice search widget and I'm dying to get that on my device. From what I've been told, i need to get a newer firmware, but I've got no idea on how to do this.

Any help would be appreciated ^_^

 

[Da9L]

Some questions:

So the short line of the process of flashing a custom rom is when using unbranded htc hero:
1. Downgrade my software to 1.76, as iam using the newest
2. Root the device acording to _this_ guide
3. Perform a backup
4. Flash the custom rom as i flash a stock rom?

Is that it? It leads me to some more questions

What is this "recovery image" and is there any reason to flash a new one?
And why is there any reason to change this at all ?

How do i get danish xt9 for sms?

And please i have a feeling that i am getting this wrong.. Can you please explain to me the procedure of doing all this ?

 

[Da9L]

Is there any benefit by flashing a rom?

I mean the stock rom actually runs pretty good and is stable. A custom rom is likely to be a little more unstable than a stock rom, but often give you more speed and newer features. This is when we are talking Windows Mobile, but is it the same here? What are the pros and cons by flashing a custom rom over the stock rom?

 

[pulser_g2]

Is there any benefit by flashing a rom?

I mean the stock rom actually runs pretty good and is stable. A custom rom is likely to be a little more unstable than a stock rom, but often give you more speed and newer features. This is when we are talking Windows Mobile, but is it the same here? What are the pros and cons by flashing a custom rom over the stock rom?

It varies depending on the ROM tbh. It's a bit like the high-tech version of 'how long's a piece of string'?

Really, you're likely to get improved performance, root permissions, user interface tweaks, different versions of applications that are better than the default ones, maybe a custom kernel (if it's a 1.5 release you're looking at).

The custom kernels can have better performance due to optimisations in them. Not sure how much of this is like winmo (never had a winmo phone, all I know is that you are able to install alternative ROMs on them), but with android the core OS is open source, so you get more performance boosts under the hood.

Anyone able to add to that?

 

[Da9L]

It varies depending on the ROM tbh. It's a bit like the high-tech version of 'how long's a piece of string'?

Really, you're likely to get improved performance, root permissions, user interface tweaks, different versions of applications that are better than the default ones, maybe a custom kernel (if it's a 1.5 release you're looking at).

The custom kernels can have better performance due to optimisations in them. Not sure how much of this is like winmo (never had a winmo phone, all I know is that you are able to install alternative ROMs on them), but with android the core OS is open source, so you get more performance boosts under the hood.

Anyone able to add to that?

That sounds great. However, since this is so new to me i do not know what new tweaks and apps i will be able to use and get if you follow me? When i have flashed a new custom rom, propably android 2.1, i do not know what new things it has and therefore where and how to use these new functions. And does the real advantage in a custom rom also get to a normal user or is the advantages more directed at the developers or?