HTC Apache Tips and Tricks/n00b guide (Please Read First)

[damecaput]

Originally Posted by boubert

I'm shure we have all gotten excited and flashed to a new rom only to realize you have lost those all important text messages from friends and colleages or that call log or something like that well in addition to the before you flash instructions i think we all should get together and list the little things that have helped us get-er-done and do it with the least amount of stress here's my first one

http://www.dotfred.net/PIM/PPCPimBackupV1.0_wm2005.zip

great little prog that saved my arse with a couple of texts that could have cost me my job had i lost them. it also backs up call logs and e-mail and a whole lot more

This link doesn't work.

Here's the new link
http://forum.xda-developers.com/atta...7&d=1179263807

[Sponge14]

Originally Posted by BobC

Very nice - sped things up noticably.

How big of a performance hit are the sys tray icons? I kinda' liked them.

How would I go about re-enabling them? Assuming the performance wouldn't suffer significantly.....

TTT I would like to know this also too please. I dont care about the performance hit, I want the icon that turns on/off BT, WIFI, ETC.

[stufff]

Just got my phone, and looking to tweak it to my needs, and I don't really know where to start.

First, I see a lot of talk about "cooking" different ROMs, and something about kitchens, and some other stuff that doesn't really make sense right off the bat (or even after a few hours of forum reading). If I understand correctly, these are different custom firmware versions? Thing is, I don't really know what I need, let alone what these do. Some comparison of the various firmware and the pros and cons of each would be really helpful. Also, do you need to install the firmware you want before doing anything else? Or can you start setting things up then install different firmware without losing data?

Second, I don't understand what to do with the CAB files. Yes I can open them and extract the contents on my computer, but how do I install them on my phone? And is there a way to only use some of the custom hacks included? For example, as others have mentioned, I rather like the system tray icons, unless there is some reason unknown to me why I should not.

I appreciate all the work some of you have obviously put in here, and I don't mean to come across as bitchy or demanding entitlements or anything of the sort, it's just that, as a total n00b to PPCs and my phone, the thread for total n00bs is still way too confusing for me ='(

[rbinkley]

Stufff,

I've only been doing this maybe three weeks, so if I'm wrong I know someone will correct me. "Cooking" is basically taking all sorts of programs and making it into one giant "install" (ROM) to your PPC. It's "cooked" into your phone, meaning it doesn't show up as an installed program, it's just there, but it's on a separate part of your memory, so you have more space avilable afterwards. Downloading a kitchen and running the "BuildOS" program will probably help this make sense, its a big list of all the available programs that come on the PPC and that people have made available to us. Simply check the ones you want and they will be "cooked" into your ROM. You have to start over after flashing firmware, it would be a waste of time to set everything up and then flash your phone. That is the basis for cooking your own roms, because you have all the programs available to you after a hard reset, they're in your ROM, so they're there immediately.

Second, CAB files are like EXE files, but for your PPC. Sync to your PC and drag and drop the files onto your PPC. From your PPC go into file explorer and run the CAB. It will then install a program on your PPC. Yet another reason cooking your own ROM is such a great idea, you don't have to mess with CAB installs of your favorite programs if you include it in your ROM, because the ROM installs it automatically!

Don't worry about being confused... I'm still confused about a lot of stuff these guys do. The mods and members of this forum have amazing talents... people like you and me just hang on for the ride, and hope to grab some helpful advice along the way!

[stufff]

Originally Posted by rbinkley

Stufff,

I've only been doing this maybe three weeks, so if I'm wrong I know someone will correct me. "Cooking" is basically taking all sorts of programs and making it into one giant "install" (ROM) to your PPC. It's "cooked" into your phone, meaning it doesn't show up as an installed program, it's just there, but it's on a separate part of your memory, so you have more space avilable afterwards. Downloading a kitchen and running the "BuildOS" program will probably help this make sense, its a big list of all the available programs that come on the PPC and that people have made available to us. Simply check the ones you want and they will be "cooked" into your ROM. You have to start over after flashing firmware, it would be a waste of time to set everything up and then flash your phone. That is the basis for cooking your own roms, because you have all the programs available to you after a hard reset, they're in your ROM, so they're there immediately.

Second, CAB files are like EXE files, but for your PPC. Sync to your PC and drag and drop the files onto your PPC. From your PPC go into file explorer and run the CAB. It will then install a program on your PPC. Yet another reason cooking your own ROM is such a great idea, you don't have to mess with CAB installs of your favorite programs if you include it in your ROM, because the ROM installs it automatically!

Don't worry about being confused... I'm still confused about a lot of stuff these guys do. The mods and members of this forum have amazing talents... people like you and me just hang on for the ride, and hope to grab some helpful advice along the way!

Thanks! That was very helpful.

One more question, about installing firmware. What do I need to do? Just hit the voice button and power? I don't get a notification that the phone has gone into bootloader mode or anything.

Also, can I do this without an SD card? I'm still waiting on mine to come in the mail and it wont be here for another 4 days.

[blazingwolf]

I would suggest that you read the information found on the wiki. It will answer most of your questions.

http://wiki.ppcgeeks.com/index.php?title=Main_Page

[stufff]

Originally Posted by blazingwolf

I would suggest that you read the information found on the wiki. It will answer most of your questions.

The only real article on the Wiki is just a copypasta of this exact post from what I can see, unless you can direct me to a specific article.

[blazingwolf]

Your kidding right?

Links to things are on the left side of the main page. One of them leads to: http://wiki.ppcgeeks.com/index.php?title=Kitchen

[rbinkley]

Originally Posted by stufff

Thanks! That was very helpful.

One more question, about installing firmware. What do I need to do? Just hit the voice button and power? I don't get a notification that the phone has gone into bootloader mode or anything.

Also, can I do this without an SD card? I'm still waiting on mine to come in the mail and it wont be here for another 4 days.

Indeed the wiki is muchos helpful.... however as far as your bootloader question goes, you won't really get a "notificiation" per se... but your LCD will go dark and it will say "serial" at the top... or "USB" once you plug it in. A handy thing to note is also your bootloader version which will be at the bottom of your screen.

[blazingwolf]

To get in to bootloader you must hit voice, power and then soft reset, all at the same time. Otherwise you will not enter bootloader mode.