DI107

[dumpringz]

Wirelessly posted (Samsung Epic : Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.1-update1; en-us; SPH-D700 Build/ECLAIR) AppleWebKit/530.17 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/530.17)

I see ... thanks for explaining. I always see talk about kernels & all this other stuff but never seen readings on exactly what it all is exactly. if u have one can u maybe post a link so I can read up ? i figure if I know what something is and get an idea of what its purpose and how it works then I might get a better understanding on what it is exactly I can & want to do.

[dumpringz]

Wirelessly posted (Samsung Epic : Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.1-update1; en-us; SPH-D700 Build/ECLAIR) AppleWebKit/530.17 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/530.17)

bump

[gTen]

I haven't forgotten I'll write you a nice long essay during the weekend..just doing a few things here and there..

[dumpringz]

Wirelessly posted (Samsung Epic : Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.1-update1; en-us; SPH-D700 Build/ECLAIR) AppleWebKit/530.17 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/530.17)

haha ok thanks

[gTen]

Ok, Android is pretty much based on linux kernel...it is similar relationship as Windows CE kernel is to Windows Mobile and it is what communicates to the hardware or the Core of the OS..

What does that mean for us, well in a linux kernel we can do things like modify the battery usage of the cpu(undervolt), overclock the cpu, run clockworkmod..it is also one of the reasons why we can't just run Froyo on our devices rom other devices.

Most of the stuff is open source, but some drivers are not open source and are pre-compiled so by modifying and rewriting the kernal can we really have better control of the device.

Next you have the rom, this is the actual OS, in here you have all your apps, all the visual stuff and etc similar to windows mobile roms.

So in reality a ROM is nothing but a collection of files..the kernel on the other hand is compiled and once compiled cannot be modified unless it is completely reflashed..we can compile kernels from the sources samsung give us as a base..if we can reverse engineer all the pre-compiled drivers we would be bale to run anything.

When doing an OTA, it is similar to windows for the desktop..instead of re-downoading the entire OS..it only downloads the changes to the files and then applys them while your outside of Android via Recovery. For recovery to apply zip files they must be signed. Clockworkmod Recovery on the other hand does not require signing.

This is also the reason why you need to get back the stock APKs before an OTA, it double checks for integrity and by not having the stock files it can't apply the OTA properly. This is also why you can't flash backwards..you dont have the entire rom..you ONLY have the changes...

So for you to truly go back you need to flash both the kernel and the rom COMPLETELY..this would be a 200mb+ file as it contains everything...you can ofcourse be running DI18 kernal and DI07 rom but remember there might be issues depending on compatibility.

There are multiple methods to flash roms and kernels:

1) Recovery - This can flash "patches" or "entire roms" via zips..depending on the recovery it can have restrictions like require signing and etc.
2) ADB - You can push files via ADB to the device.its pretty much a linux shell to controlling your device.
3) Odin - This is ONLY for complete rewrite of your kernal/rom..it flashes tar files and is probably similar to what we used to call RUU on our winmo devices...this is also what samsung uses to flash stuff to devices.
4) Kies - This is what samsung lets the users flash their devices with when there is an update without OTA..I have no clue how it works but its similar to itunes or HTC sync or something..I think...Epic doesn't have kies compatibility..yet...

So remember that when using winmo you pretty much had the kernal and rom packed in 1 which you flashed..on Android you have them separate like rom and radio and you can flash 1 or the other or both. and with every OTA we get an updated kernel and file changes and not the full rom.

I hope its not too confusing...Anything else you want me to explain?

[dumpringz]

Wirelessly posted (Samsung Epic : Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.1-update1; en-us; SPH-D700 Build/ECLAIR) AppleWebKit/530.17 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/530.17)

damn that nailed it on the head I'd say. thank u. I need to find time in my life to learn how to flash a kernel or rom. is there a step by step instruction link ? with that I'd be good. and again thank u very much