Database Develop

so i have a lot of questions

so to start off, ill say i know absolutly nothing about linux, but i managed to root and flash modacos custom rom to my phone. i have no idea what any of the commands i used to do it mean, or how to use any of them to do anything else (other than removing a bunch of the crap that sprint puts on the phone, i managed to do that with the help of one of the other threads on here). anyways, ive got that done and am wondering what to do now. i came from a titan and am used to when im done flashing things, everything is totally different. like going from stock rom to having m2d and it being super sweet. with the new rom it seems like there isnt a lot of new stuff going on or a lot of changes. wifi tether works amazingly though. anyways, im done with the pointless ranting and heres what im trying to figure out....
1. are all of my contacts really saved to gmail? like all of the stuff from all of them? so if i hard reset, and just sign into my gmail account, will it reload all of my contacts? im used to pim backup and knowing that its all gonna be there after im done doing stuff (ive never used gmail before and am not sure how it works)
2. if i do a hard reset, do i need to redo everything like root and re-flash the custom rom or will all of that stay intact? will all of the sprint garbage like nascar be back on there after doing the cmd propmt remove of it or will i have to do that again? im not nessicarily worried about the apps that i have installed already so im not worried about that at all, i can find them later.
3. is there anything usefull that i can do with root that will increase performance or anything. like i said earlier, i dont know anything about linux , so is there like a list of comands somewhere to look through that might help me out?
4. does a2sd see your programs and automatically move them to the sd with the proper formatting of the sd card? i did the fat32, ext2 and swap. since i didnt know if it moved them over, i manually uninstalled everything and reinstalled them. after uninstalling everything i had 104 free and after reinstall i had 101.
5. would it be benificial to go ahead and do a hard reset, if the sprint crap is back on on all of that other **** that can be erased is back, get rid of that, and start from scratch to install all of my stuff i want. i dl a lot of **** that i uninstalled before. i hear linux is really good at installing and uninstalling things, but if ive dl'ed 75 things then uninstallled them, is there gonna be any garbage left on my phone from it? i know there was a lot of garbage left on the sd before i formated. actually, there was **** on there (on the sd) from progs i dl'ed and uninstalled awhile ago, even after formating so im thinging a hard reset would be helpful.
im sure ill have a lot more questions about this whole linux/android stuff sooo.....if people are trying to be helpful and help me out that would be awesome. if your going to be an asshole and blast me for my nubbish questions, dont bother.
thanks in advance
ix3u

The super-custom ROMS are on their way, they just take some time (we only got root this past weekend afterall!)
1.) Some contacts are saved to your phone, but I believe the default is to save it to gmail. You can check by going into the People App, click menu->View and the numbers should show you how much is on google and how many are on your phone.
2.) I'm afraid I'm not sure on a hard reset...I use Nandroid and if all else fails, the RUU to recover (Nandroid is just a snapshot in time...it will be however it was when you backed it up when you restore....while the RUU puts it back to true "factory", as if you just pulled it out of the box).
3.) There's a few things you can do to the UI settings that can increase performance, but the real performance gains are pending the release of the CDMA Kernel by HTC for us to play with and port some of the performance changes that were done to the GSM Kernel (Google for Teknologic's Kernel 1.8...it's included in MoDaCo 2.9). Teknologic kept a very good changelog and site describing some of the things he did and why.
4.) I have no experience with A2SD, but there's a bunch of threads about it...hopefully one of them will have teh answer you seek?
5.) I suppose a hard reset couldn't hurt...it would certainly rule a lot of things out when troubleshooting. I download a lot of apps too only to find I didn't like them enough to keep them and removed them. From what I can tell, it does clean up the application files pretty thoroughly on the OS partitions...the SD card I believe most apps leave alone on uninstall just to be careful not to delete too much because the SD card is designed for people to access and drop files onto, whereas the OS is meant to be managed by the OS...so it's just being careful to leave data on the SD card to play it safe rather than risk deleting someone's favorite picture of their kid or something.
Xda has been one of the more gentle forums I've seen in a long time. You're in good hands here. Hopefully some of that info was useful...if not, someone else will likely be along shortly to give better/more complete answers. ^_^

New Hero User ...... Requires A Little Guidance

Hey all,
I was really hioping someone could give me a hand.
I am due a delivery of a hero at somepoint today. Now from what i have read and researched, the hero is a little behind with the Android version and we are awaiting a new update from HTC. ( i don't want to go the custom ROM route, not just yet)
Now, if the HTC rep i spoke to is to be believed, we wont get the update until Mid-April earliest. that's a month of my contacts, settings etc etc that will be lost with a ROM update.
My question is this, Can anyone recommend a decent back-up utility for the Hero?
I don't mind paying for it, but i would prefere if it can save my mail settings (maybe the 3 internet settings too as they are a pain)
I have seen a few apps around to do it, but you never know unless you try.
i would rather not go the trial and error route on my contacts!
(i have also heard that the Hero comes with a pretty decent PC Sync utility to install to my PC that will take backups etc, any thruth to this?)
Thanks for your help guys,
TM411

"My Backup Pro" is a very good app (costs £4 ish i think) in the market. probably the best non rooted app you will find to back everything up.
If you were to root your phone you could use an app called "titanium backup" personally I haven not got on with it but a lot of people on this site love it (maybe I should give it a second chance?)
Google phones sync contacts with google by default (access via a pc @ www.google.com/contacts) so once your happy they are all on that website you never need to worry about backing them up on your phone ever again

Excellent,
thanks mate.
Quick question though, what is "rooting"
am i missing something simple?

TroubleMaker411 said:
Excellent,
thanks mate.
Quick question though, what is "rooting"
am i missing something simple?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Rooting is the process that gives you more access to things that you normally can't do.
Once this is done it allows apps to control parts of the phone that normally cannot be touched which is why titanium backup is probably the most complete backup app there is.
It also allows you to install custom roms etc

Cool, thanks.
One last question then, sorry to be a pain.
Would you recommend going the custom ROM/rooted path?
If so, is there an Android 2.1/new HTC UI ROM around that you would recommend i have a butchers at?
Thanks again mate

TroubleMaker411 said:
Cool, thanks.
One last question then, sorry to be a pain.
Would you recommend going the custom ROM/rooted path?
If so, is there an Android 2.1/new HTC UI ROM around that you would recommend i have a butchers at?
Thanks again mate
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Installing a custom recovery image does no harm to your phone and will give you the option to backup and flash a custom ROM if you wish.
I would defiantly recommend doing it.
you can always restore to default anyway to remove it for some reason you wished to do so.
there are guides on this site and good videos on www.theunlockr.com to teach you how to do it. It is not hard and just gives you that choice of how to use your phone

Thank you
You have been extremely helpful.
It's much appreciated
TM411

Help for N1 and unlocking/rooting

I am a TRUE beginner at this. I've watched tutorials and read countless pages but I just don't get it. I can do calculus. I've played piano for 13 years. I'm working 2 jobs while attending full-time school and raising my son on my own.
But I just can't get this. Plus I'm afraid of destroying my second love.
So, someone out there who can walk me through step by step and help me out? Mainly I want to clear up space, maybe add some more home pages, etc. Will rooting/unlocking do this anyway?
Help (especially by professionals) will be greatly appreciated. Never asked for help before and never about unlocking/rooting phones. Thanks!

Mainly I want to clear up space
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What kind of space would you like to clear up? Screen space, memory, etc?
maybe add some more home pages
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Look for launcher pro or ADW launcher in the market.
It sounds like you don't necessarily need to be rooted, but if you want to for fun (unless updating radio you can't really screw it up too bad) there are tutorials everywhere. I had to read multiple to get it right.
Cyanogen's Full Update Guide
To start - Install the USB drivers from the Android SDK, then plug in your phone and when the driver dialog pops up manually choose the drivers from your SDK usb-driver directory (mine was C:\Documents and Settings\****\My Documents\Downloads\android-sdk_r06-windows\android-sdk-windows\usb_driver). This should get you started.
Just make sure if you root you only flash stuff when you have a lot of battery power remaining.
EDIT: This site was the site I mainly used to unlock bootloader, install recovery, and install a rom, it's pretty comprehensive: Step by Step guide

Considering trying xposed...

Ive come across a couple of root apps that want exposed, to either do more things or to work entirely.
Ive been wanting to try the swypetweaks app, to make the symbols appear on the newer themes, but it needs xposed.
Would installing xposed remove anything or stop anything i currently have from functioning? or does it simple allow more things to function? Id plan on making a backup before i started trying anything anyway, but i was just wondering if its supposed to wipe anything or not??
if something did get messed up and i had to recover from my backup from before i installed it, would it be uninstalled/totally removed once i restored??
basicallyi want to try it out but im afraid to mess anything up lol

Pawprints1986 said:
Ive come across a couple of root apps that want exposed, to either do more things or to work entirely.
Ive been wanting to try the swypetweaks app, to make the symbols appear on the newer themes, but it needs xposed.
Would installing xposed remove anything or stop anything i currently have from functioning? or does it simple allow more things to function? Id plan on making a backup before i started trying anything anyway, but i was just wondering if its supposed to wipe anything or not??
if something did get messed up and i had to recover from my backup from before i installed it, would it be uninstalled/totally removed once i restored??
basicallyi want to try it out but im afraid to mess anything up lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Xposed is basically a middleman. As stated in the thread, do a backup in recovery before installing in case you have issues, you can restore imediately. It doesn't change anything on your phone in any way that would affect how you use it by itself. You can think of it like when you use a java app on your computer. The java app doesn't know how to talk to the computer, it talks to java, and that does the work for it. It works on most roms, stock and custom. I've been using it for years, and have had minimal troubles, other than a bootloop when I installed the wrong version, or did something dumb. Basically keep the uninstall in your downloads folder, and a backup of your rom, and just try it out. If something goes wrong, try the uninstall, and if that doesn't fix it, clear cache (dalvik too) and restore the rom backup, and you are running like always. The modules can't do anything or affect your system when you remove xposed. Any more questions, please ask. If you quote my post, I'll notice faster and respond within an hour usually, or one of the other awesome members can help out too!

kdb424 said:
Xposed is basically a middleman. As stated in the thread, do a backup in recovery before installing in case you have issues, you can restore imediately. It doesn't change anything on your phone in any way that would affect how you use it by itself. You can think of it like when you use a java app on your computer. The java app doesn't know how to talk to the computer, it talks to java, and that does the work for it. It works on most roms, stock and custom. I've been using it for years, and have had minimal troubles, other than a bootloop when I installed the wrong version, or did something dumb. Basically keep the uninstall in your downloads folder, and a backup of your rom, and just try it out. If something goes wrong, try the uninstall, and if that doesn't fix it, clear cache (dalvik too) and restore the rom backup, and you are running like always. The modules can't do anything or affect your system when you remove xposed. Any more questions, please ask. If you quote my post, I'll notice faster and respond within an hour usually, or one of the other awesome members can help out too!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you noticed any more noticible ram being sucked up by something else running? Or does it only run when called for, like java? I know lots of people use it so i cant imagine its a ram hog, but im only working with 1 gig of ram.
the app i originally wanted to try it for, i found a better (severely under rated) keybaord that i like, even better i think, and all the themes arent extra purchases either. but I know greenify, and something else has asked me about exposed too, but i just kept saying no, cuz i was afraid to mess up. lol.

Pawprints1986 said:
Have you noticed any more noticible ram being sucked up by something else running? Or does it only run when called for, like java? I know lots of people use it so i cant imagine its a ram hog, but im only working with 1 gig of ram.
the app i originally wanted to try it for, i found a better (severely under rated) keybaord that i like, even better i think, and all the themes arent extra purchases either. but I know greenify, and something else has asked me about exposed too, but i just kept saying no, cuz i was afraid to mess up. lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Xposed itself doesn't seem to take much ram at all. I have run it all the way back to devices like my HTC Incredible, which was released on 2010. That has 512MB RAM and it seemed to run fine. As for modules, they tend to use very little ram. Greenify takes 10MB and powernap takes 3.7MB on my oneplus one. To compare that, Swiftkey takes 49MB and ran just fine even on the incredible with only 512MB RAM. Do a backup, try it out, and if it doesn't work out, restore /system and it's uninstalled. Well, then uninstall modules. For me, it's a must have personally, and I always try it out, even when I know things may or may not work, because it's so easy to remove if things don't go as planned. Make sure you have a backup, and you are golden. Super easy fix on he rare occasion something breaks.

kdb424 said:
Xposed itself doesn't seem to take much ram at all. I have run it all the way back to devices like my HTC Incredible, which was released on 2010. That has 512MB RAM and it seemed to run fine. As for modules, they tend to use very little ram. Greenify takes 10MB and powernap takes 3.7MB on my oneplus one. To compare that, Swiftkey takes 49MB and ran just fine even on the incredible with only 512MB RAM. Do a backup, try it out, and if it doesn't work out, restore /system and it's uninstalled. Well, then uninstall modules. For me, it's a must have personally, and I always try it out, even when I know things may or may not work, because it's so easy to remove if things don't go as planned. Make sure you have a backup, and you are golden. Super easy fix on he rare occasion something breaks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, other than the possible odd app that may directly ask for it, does it do anything for the overall phone differently? I think i read that it replaces dalvik, which i also dont quite understand. i know the dalvik cache is like windows prefetch files, but as for dalvik it self, im not too sure. is it better than dalvik? (or, did i read the wrong information somewhere?)

Pawprints1986 said:
So, other than the possible odd app that may directly ask for it, does it do anything for the overall phone differently? I think i read that it replaces dalvik, which i also dont quite understand. i know the dalvik cache is like windows prefetch files, but as for dalvik it self, im not too sure. is it better than dalvik? (or, did i read the wrong information somewhere?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It doesn't replace it so much as hook into it. Think of how cheat programs can hook into games, or like the steam overlay on games. It hooks in and modifies. Basically, unless you run a module,Aka, an app that needs xposed, then you won't even notice a single bit of difference. Almost 0 ram impact, no discernible performance drop, nada. It's basically a resource hook that allows other apps to hook in to the system. It has different versions for ART and Dalvik (Depending on android version) because they do things differently, so it basically just hooks as needed, and the modules (xposed apps that you want to work) just borrow what xposed knows how to do so each single app doesn't have to figure it out. It's known as a framework. It's just a tool for things to use. Xposed modules can all use that framework to make changes to the system that you ask them to, but otherwise, if you have none installed, it just straps on the system, then does basically nothing as it doesn't really do anything by itself.

Rooted, now what?

I got a new wifi S2, installed the permissive kernel and rooted it. I installed TWRP and made a backup. Now I've got an uninstall app and I've removed a few things; primarily Knox and the security logger so that it quits whining at me. I have a strong desire to never ever use the cloud, create a Samsung account, or a Google account. I really just want to load some books onto it and DLNA some music and videos.
So I want to get rid of all the stuff that I'll never be able to use but it's not clear to me how to identify all that. I'm a long time Unix guy but not at all an android guy. If something prompts me to create an account I know I want to uninstall it, but damned if I can figure out how to identify what to uninstall from what icon I touched.
I've found bloatware lists but they're all somewhat old and not for the S2, so it's not clear to me if I should trust them. I'd like to avoid trial and error "uninstall and reinstall if something doesn't work" or the even more dreaded "uninstall and find out six months later that something doesn't work". Can anyone point me at a good list of what I can remove, or where I can figure out how to determine that for myself? Thanks.

Better start freezen apps instead of uninstalling them. I use titanium backup for that, but you can use whatever you like. Just be carefull freezing or uninstalling OS related apps, you can end in a bootloop, but you always have the odin flash method to reflash your system back to normal. Just don't play around with partitions or /dev .
Right now I using my tablet unrooted and untouched, so I can't be more specific which apps you can freeze without problems.

He doesn't need odin as he has a twrp backup.
I take it you are using System App Remover (root) to uninstall system apps? If so you are pretty safe as they are backed up and can be restored any time if something goes wrong.
Also are you aware without a Google account you will lose part of the functionality of an Android device?
Samsungs account you can do without. All that stuff related to it can be deleted, but don't advise removing any of the Google core services from the stock rom.
If you really want a GAPPless rom then you're better off with a non stock custom rom like CM or AOSP.
Not much in that area of development at the moment, but there are a couple of members working on it.

ashyx said:
He doesn't need odin as he has a twrp backup.
I take it you are using System App Remover (root) to uninstall system apps? If so you are pretty safe as they are backed up and can be restored any time if something goes wrong.
Also are you aware without a Google account you will lose part of the functionality of an Android device?
Samsungs account you can do without. All that stuff related to it can be deleted, but don't advise removing any of the Google core services from the stock rom.
If you really want a GAPPless rom then you're better off with a non stock custom rom like CM or AOSP.
Not much in that area of development at the moment, but there are a couple of members working on it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, thanks. If I lose functionality to avoid Google watching over my shoulder I'm all for it. I'm old and probably overprotective of what's my business and not theirs. In truth, I bought the S2 because I have a collection of chess book pdf's and djvu's that I want to be able to read while I'm sitting at my chess board. I got the 9.7 inch S2 because the old eyes aren't what they used to be. Anything I can do beyond that is icing on the cake.
I do have the app remover, and I've removed the stuff that was obvious to me (like the Microsoft Office stubs). But there are still lots of things that bring up a prompt for an account when I run them and it's not clear to me how to figure out what app to remove to get rid of that particular thing. On Linux I could use rpm -q to figure out what rpm contained a file I want to remove and I'd be good to go. I've tried googling some of the app names but the "descriptions" I end up finding are particularly unenlightening. And since this is definitely not my area of expertise I don't really want to operate in "let's remove this and see what happens" even if I can reinstall the app from its backup. I've been doing software development and sysadmin for more than 35 years now and that just doesn't seem like the way to approach this.
I was looking at CM, which seems like it might be what I'm looking for, but it's still in alpha and my skill level is probably not up to coping with that so I'm back with the problem of how to decide what to get rid of.