How to Customize a Custom Rom: Adding/Removing Programs

[rstoyguy]

INTRO
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With this tutorial, I assume you have the correct Rom version and Radio version. If you do not already have
general 'PPCGeeks-Rom-Flashin' knowledge and DO NOT already flash your rom on a regular basis...This may not be for you.

The purpose of this tutorial is to assist you in customizing your choice of custom roms.
This is intended to:
-- Limit the time running UserCustomization when flashing.
-- Show you how to add/remove programs to your favorite roms.
-- Help you become a better PPCGeek!
-- Works with the PPC-6900. It should also work on the ppc-6800, ppc-6700....

This not intended to:
-- Teach you to become a rom chef.
-- Help deviants steal an accomplished chefs rom and call it your own.
-- Make any chef unemployed.
-- Teach you how to make custom regedits, or any other fancy chef stuff.


Why do all this when there is www.ppckitchen.org? The PPCKitchen is nice, but it is...sorta Robotic. While I have no complaints, it is somewhat limited. Quite a few rom chef's have spent month's customizing their rom. This means refining registry entries, picking and choosing what programs to include, maintaining current programs versions. These folks have put countless hours into these. I have my own rom preference. I personally prefer OMJ's rom and his customizations. And honestly, I don't use a couple of programs my chef chooses, and I usually add a couple of my own programs. This tutorial will help you cut down on the time that UserCustomization takes. We all know the benefits of a Custom Rom! This brings the art to the end user level.

Which brings up...USING THIS TUTORIAL IS YOUR CHOICE! I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANYTHING THAT MAY HAPPEN TO YOU OR YOUR DEVICE! NOTICE: YOU CAN POSSIBLY BRICK YOUR DEVICE OR LOSE SLEEP ONCE YOU CATCH THE KITCHEN BUG! Ok, let's begin...

Credits
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I would first like to thank the following:
PPCGeeks.COM and ALL it's members! What I have learned in the past months, I have learned here from fellow PPCGeeks members.
A couple special thanks to:
ImCokeMan - for his Rom unlocker(s)
DogGuy - his kitchen...Bepe - BuildOS...All others involved in the kitchen
Old_Man_Jenkins (& most other recent chefs) - for him unwittingly allowing me to chop up their kitchens!
...and several others, thanks, you know who you are!

Terminology
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Here is a brief explanation of some terms I will use.
OEM - In the rom world, this is the same as a cab file so OEM_directory is the same as file.cab.
..\OEM - This is the directory in the kitchen that you will copy your OEM directorys into to add programs to your rom.
..\SYS - This is the directory in the kitchen that you will delete directorys from to delete programs from your donor rom.
..\RUU - This is where your finished flashable NBH file will reside when your done.
NBH - your in the upgrade thread...search...

PREPARE
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Files you will need:
1-Download and install install a kitchen from the FTP. Extract the exe/rar file and install to a directory. This will be your kitchen directory. For this tutorial, we will use c:\kitchens.

2-Locate your favorite chef.nbh file and copy it to your kitchen root directory. I did say copy! (Quick recovery when things go wrong)

3- Download OEM_PPCGeeks.rar (EDIT: This archive is now called PPCKitchen_OEM.rar as of July 2008 ) Extract this file to your drive be sure to extract using original directorys. Look through it and familiarize yourself with the directory names. (These are your OEM's) Later I will refer to this location as your PPCGeek_OEM folder.
Again they were, the kitchen, donor rom, and oem packages.

Getting aquainted with the kitchen structure
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Now lets take a quick look at the Kitchens directory structure. Everything will reside in the c:\kitchen directory. There are six directorys inside the Kitchen
..\
..\Logs
..\OEM
..\ROM
..\RUU
..\SYS
..\tools
There are only two directorys that we are concerned with. The only two we will be working with is ..\OEM and ..\SYS. The OEM directory is what you add your OEM_Programs to, and the SYS directory is where you can delete files from. Be carefull what you delete! Unless you can identify a directory as an OEM, DO NOT DELETE IT!

Getting to know the kitchen programs...the basics
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There are three files in the kitchen root directory you will use.

PrepIt.bat - Deconstructs the Donor Rom
BuildOS.exe - Builds the operating system portion. Combines the OEM's and System files.
BuildIt.bat - Builds your rom. Packages everything together and copies your new rom to the RUU directory.

That's right. Five easy steps:
1- PrepIt
2- Add/Remove Programs, I mean OEM's
3- BuildOS
4- BuildIt
5- Flash your Rom