Kirvin "Clean and Simple Plus" kitchen withdrawn

[Jeff Kirvin]

I have withdrawn the Kirvin CS+ kitchen and deleted it from the FTP site. It has been made clear that variants of Helmi's kitchen are not welcome, and I have to respect that. I've uploaded some of my custom OEMs to the FTP site. They'll give you a start on reproducing what I did here.

I'm also leaving PPCgeeks for a while, possibly for good. I've come to realize today that my time is better spent writing fiction. I wish you all the best.

I hate it when stuff just disappears on the internet so as a matter of principle, the original post follows. The link does not work.

STANDARD DISCLAIMER

This is provided AS-IS, with NO WARRANTY, express or implied. You flash your phone at your own risk. I've made this as simple and stable as I can, but I'm not forcing you to use it. Got it? Good. Have fun.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First, I'd like to thank Helmi, Luv2Chill, Colonel, Tiermann and all the others on whose work I've built. This wouldn't be possible without you guys.

WHAT IS CLEAN AND SIMPLE?

My C&S ROMs for the Apache are designed to do for us Apache users what Palm has done for the Windows Mobile Treo: bring the Zen of Palm to Windows Mobile. The Zen of Palm, as defined back in the "Good Old Days (TM)" of mobile computing, is to do a few things really well rather than a whole big bunch of things poorly. The original black and white Palm OS devices were examples of the Zen of Palm, as is, oddly, the iPhone. Windows Mobile doesn't have to complicated or hard to use, but the default settings tend to make it so. So I've changed a bunch of stuff to streamline and beautify the user experience while remaining true to the essence of Windows Mobile (this isn't an iPhone lookalike mod) and make Windows Mobile fun and easy again.

WHY A NEW KITCHEN?

I know some of the mods at PPCgeeks would rather I not post a new kitchen of my own. I understand this. As a former developer myself, I know code forks are evil mojo. I've avoided this as long as I could, but it can't be helped. In making this kitchen, I've altered or tweaked so much in Helmi and Luv2Chill's 3.5 1.04 kitchen, right down to the core ROM image, that it's impossible to replicate what I've done here just by posting OEMs to the FTP site. If you want to keep using the official, standard kitchen, I've posted as many of my own OEMs as I can, but they won't give you the full C&S experience.

SO WHAT'S SO DARN DIFFERENT?

I've tweaked this to squeeze as much speed out of the Apache as I can without giving up too much usable memory. This means that while I've decreased the size of various file system caches, I've increased the size of the PagePool from 6MB to 8MB. I've reorganized the Start Menu to give you quick access to everything with minimal clutter. I've cut out unnecessary files from several OEMs and system modules to decrease the overall size of the ROM and the number of files jammed into \Windows. I've integrated many of the new HTC applications and utilities and tweaked them to work together as cleanly as possible. I've automatically unlocked the now blank Ext_ROM partition and moved your Temporary Internet Files there to keep them out of your main storage. I've unified the overall look of the user interface as much as possible. And I've preconfigured just about everything with different default settings so you can just flash, sync and go. This kitchen builds the ROM your carrier should have given you.

OKAY, SO HOW DO I USE THIS?

Download this:

ftp://ppcgeeks:ezupload@up.ppcgeeks....Kirvin_CS+.rar

Unpack the kitchen to C:\ on your PC. I know, I hate putting stuff there too, but it's important for the shortcuts to work. Within it, you'll see a folder and four shortcuts:

Kitchen Files - Open at own risk - Here be dragons
1 Read me. Seriously. Read me.lnk
2 Enter your personal settings.lnk
3 Build the operating system.lnk
4 Create and flash the ROM image.lnk

Open each link in turn to run through the whole process. Here's what they do.

The first step is what you're reading now (see? you're already doing it!). Read the whole thing and you'll be fine.

Please take this as your opportunity to copy any of your own OEM modules that I haven't included into the "Kitchen Files - Open at your own risk - Here be dragons\OEM" folder.

The second step is to run the OEMizer app provided by Tiermann and enter as many or as few of your personal settings as you like. You can prepopulate your Owner Information, set up your Today screen plugins, anything you'd like to set up Your Way. This will create a custom OEM in the "Kitchen Files\OEM" folder that will get loaded after everything else.

The third step is to run BuildOS. I've prechecked the essentials, but I've also included things like Windows Live Messenger, Remote Desktop, MMS and Transcriber that people have asked for. These are unchecked by default, but if you want them, check them. Also be sure to check the customization package for your carrier. When you're happy with your loadout, press the Play button. The window will go gray while it runs. When it turns white again and you see the word "Done" in the bottom of the window, close it and move on to step four.

The fourth step is to run the batch file to actually create the ROM image and flash it to your phone. This will show up as a text mode "DOS" window on your screen. Just follow the instructions within and you'll be fine.

When you're finished flashing, HARD RESET your phone, even if the flash utility tells you do a soft reset. Better safe than splattered, I always say. (It annoys the heck out of my friends.)

THIS IS IMPORTANT. KEEP READING.

Let the customizations run. Your carrier customizations were baked in during step two. What the Autorun customizer does now is unlock your Extended ROM and reboot. That's it, completely benign. Basically, all you have to do after the hard reset is tap OK when the Extended ROM unlocks, let it reboot and come back up. When it boots the second time, it will look like it's hung on the Window Mobile splash screen, except you can see the title bar. Tap the Start Menu and you're ready to go. Almost all your settings are preconfigured (you'll need to set the time zone and probably recalibrate the digitizer), Program folders are set up and you should have over 37MB of space in which to install stuff, 37MB that your IE cache won't eat into.

That's it! You now have the fastest, cleanest and easiest Apache out there and can outperform a brand new HTC Mogul!

[tnynyn]

damnit, just when i finished setting everything up with the new c&s 1.0.4 u release this?!?!

[Jeff Kirvin]

I told everybody something was coming...

[rajivkamath]

Jeff

I just installed Piscel Browser on my PPC. I have the latest rom based on your CS Plus.
Now i would like the Piscel Browser shortcut to under your Internet folder. Can i do that?

[richjolliff]

Jeff, great job on the Kitchen. I am a first time baker. Wow! Great upgrade! Any idea why voice command isn't loading right?

[Jeff Kirvin]

Picsel: In the OEM module for Picsel, edit the initflashfiles.txt to change \Programs to \Programs\Internet

Voice Command: Neither of the VC modules include the actual .exe file due to registration issues (VC doesn't use a code, but has separate executables for the trial and registered versions). You'll have to copy that into the OEM module before you build. This is the way it's been in all kitchens.

[Jeff Kirvin]

Or if Picsel is installed normally, not embedded in the ROM, just use Total Commander to move the shortcut from

\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

to

\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Internet

[Jeff Kirvin]

By the way, if you like this kitchen and it really makes your phone better, please donate something to PPCgeeks and let's keep this site going!

[rajivkamath]

Jeff

First I sincerely appreciate your work. even today I feel your original C&S was best rom ever. But I am not quite excited about your C&S Plus. Please don't think I am criticizing, just some issues I saw.

1) Your keyboard works fine on the left side but as you type the character on the right side, it picks the wrong character.
2) Many of you drop down menu now don't drop now. i.e. Time Synchronization, New Email setup menu's don't work.
3) The new folder structure for the programs is quite new and difficult for someone who is very used to having their programs in fixed place.

But the Rom is fast, that's a great achievement. If you please look into these issue and fix it, this stands to be the next best rom.

Thanks

[tnsandman]

I'm another first time baker thanks to you Jeff. Now I have the programs I need and want without the extra crap. Thanks so much Jeff!!!