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Originally Posted by cjbreisch
B) In VerizonGuy's kitchen, there was a fantastic HOWTO by BigJ. I realize that this new BuildOS is a lot better, and much of what BigJ wrote doesn't apply, but it would be great to have something like that in there. Because of his HOWTO, I didn't panic and get confused when I saw the "Encode" screen and knew what to do.
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BigJ wrote that missive months ago and fact is it just no longer applies. We literally had no time to write up any documentation for this--it had already taken up enough time and we just needed to get it released. I think you'll agree that the steps are a lot easier than they used to be. This would be an excellent project for someone who has some experience with this process and is looking for a way to give back to PPCGeeks. Any volunteers?
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C) Speaking of which, since I've already selected my carrier, shouldn't that select the appropriate .prj file for me?
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No, the prj selection takes place in a totally different application than the one you used to make your selections. I know that's not obvious because the program is called for you automatically,. but there is no way for it to know what carrier you have. Gguru is looking at trying to take over the job of that app from within BuildOS itself but without the source code that task would be extremely difficult. For now though it's not so hard to pick your carrier is it?
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D) Is the process for adding new Custom Apps to the kitchen the same as in previous kitchens (as described by BigJ)? If we get an app added to the kitchen, would you like to be notified so that it can be added to the default kitchen?
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Fundamentally the underlying process is the same as before. The difference now is that there's a dedicated place for you to put all of your additions--the User_OEM folder. Concepts like UUID order still apply. Whether a submitted OEM becomes part of the PPCGeeks_OEM.rar depends on a couple of criteria--is it freeware/shareware, has it been OEM'ed propertly (there are some really complicated CABs which require some expertise to OEM properly), and has it been widely tested to have no problems?
Our eventual goal is to have a single repository for OEMs that would apply to all devices--not just the Apache, so as to broaden the number of people contributing and cut down on duplicate work.
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D) I know quite a few people use the Picsel browser and saw that wasn't in the kitchen (unless I'm blind and I missed it). I know that some apps are a real PITA to add to the kitchen. I take it that is turning out to be one of them?
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I have looked at the Picsel cab and declined to OEM it because it requires many files to be in subfolders. Without getting into too much detail, whenever a program requires files to be in certain places it becomes a less ideal candidate for the OEM treatment, as that means every file that needs to be in a specific directory will take up twice as much space because the original always stays in \Windows (absolutely everything you build into a ROM is put into \Windows and cannot move from there). So if an app requires 20 files to be in a different directory then those files must be copied there by the OS and they will therefore eat up both ROM space ((the originals in \windows) and your storage space (the copies in their proper directories).
There are a few apps that are this way--SlingPlayer is another one.
I'm sure someone has already gone ahead and made a Picsel OEM, but personally I think it's a waste of Space. Tiermann has written a new app that can automatically install cab files that you put in the ROM (or better yet, in a folder on your storage card) on first boot. IMHO that's a better solution for apps like Picsel and SlingPlayer because they'll take up much less space on your device that way.
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E) The only MMS I saw was Arcsoft's. Isn't there a "standard" one from MS? Or am I just confused? Probably the latter.
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No, Microsoft never developed an MMS interface for Windows Mobile. Arcsoft is the only option for us.
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F) The popups over the apps with the details are great! A few could use a bit more detail, IMO...but that's a very very minor nit.
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This is something that even an inexperienced user could help with. Many of those descriptions were just lifted or paraphrased from either the author's site or someone's enthusiastic description of a particular application. I'd encourage anyone who would like to spend time improving the package information to get in touch with me or one of the other people involved in this project.
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G) Perhaps future versions of the kitchen could come with some sample "selections" files? Like an "HTC" one that loads all the HTC stuff, or a "Clean & Simple", or "Gamers" or something. I know the default selections produce a very clean ROM, but most C&Sers out there do like just a little bit in their ROMs like Office, Windows Live, etc. Just an idea...might make it easier for n00bs like me to cook their own ROMs with less fear in their hearts. 
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Absolutely. Gguru coded the BuildOS app that way to allow for that kind of flexibility. Instead of someone repackaging the whole kitchen all that would have to be done is make a selections.txt and package it up along with any additional OEMs required in the txt file. I'm quite sure this will happen in time--for now, you can consider the boxes that are checked when you first open BuildOS to be C&S (Windows Live is included)
But another comment about fear of using the app... maybe you were just saying that for comedic effect but no one should be afraid to do this. Fact is, your bootloader protects you from yourself--and the bootloader does not get touched during any of these procedures. If you screw something up all you need to do is reflash your original carrier ROM (or whatever known working ROM you might have saved to your hard drive).
The only reason I can see for using a pre-made ROM now is that you just have no free time to spend on making your own. It might take an hour or two to get around the learning curve, but honestly it's worth it. Why settle for someone else's choices when you can put what you want in there!
11-06-2007, 09:45 AM
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